In the West, these systems are typically at the mercy of hardware gatekeepers. Yet Tencent has grown so quickly in China that it even has sway over Apple, which allows it to process payments for its mini-programs without taking a cut. Notably, Facebook asked for the same permission in the West and was denied — even though it limited payments to tips for creators on the platform and gave up its own cut. In 2020, as the threat of Apple being forced to ban Tencent grew, analysts estimated that Chinese people’s avoidance of iPhones without WeChat would cost Apple 30% of global sales.
In addition to various platform fees, the Metaverse economy is adversely affected by policy decisions by various virtual platforms and publishers that make it harder for users to spend money, reduce customer spending, penalize panama mobile database users for spending diversity, discourage customers from using multiple platforms, and limit the utility of all purchases, constraining total investment.
For example, all the major virtual platforms have their own proprietary currencies. Fortnite uses V-Bucks, while Roblox uses Robux, Call of Duty has COD Points, and Minecraft uses Minecoin. And you can only buy in pre-set amounts, rarely meeting a specific purchase price, meaning that buying $5 worth of gear with V-Bucks means buying $7 worth of V-Bucks. In some cases, the exchange rate (i.e., USD to virtual currency) for these amounts is also different. In Fortnite, users can buy 1,000 V-Bucks for $8 (or 125 per dollar), 2,800 for $20 (or 140 per dollar), 5,000 for $32 (or 156 per dollar), or 13,500 for $80 (169 per dollar). Of course, these currencies are also not refundable (although this is partly a result of the hardware platform billing systems and fees, which make refunds tricky for cross-platform games).