Meta Plans to Take a Nearly 50% Commission on Purchases Made Inside the 'Metaverse' Despite Complaining About Apple's 30% App Store Cut

Meta, better known as Facebook, plans to take a nearly 50% commission on digital asset purchases made inside the "metaverse," the company has revealed, months after it had complained about the maximum 30% cut that Apple takes for purchases through the App Store.

facebook meta
This week, Meta announced new ways it's allowing creators to monetize and earn money from the "metaverse." One way it's enabling that is through letting creators sell NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, through its Horizon Worlds platform. In the post, Meta declined to specify how much of a cut it would take for those purchases, but a company spokesperson told CNBC it would be 47.5% commission, inclusive of a 30% hardware fee and a 17.5% platform charge:

A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC Wednesday that Meta will take an overall cut of up to 47.5% on each transaction. That includes a “hardware platform fee” of 30% for sales made through the Meta Quest Store, where it sells apps and games for its virtual reality headsets. On top of that, Horizon Worlds, will charge a 17.5% fee.

Meta's vice president of Horizons, Vivek Sharma, told The Verge that the nearly 50% commission is "a pretty competitive rate in the market," adding "we believe in the other platforms being able to have their share."

Ironically, Meta itself, including company CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has been vocal about Apple's 15% to 30% cut from the ‌App Store‌. In June, Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook that Meta would be keeping paid online events, subscriptions, badges, and other products free for creators until 2023, and after that, Meta would announce a commission that is "less than the 30% that Apple and others take."

In another post a few months later taking aim at Apple's policy, Zuckerberg said that the ‌App Store‌ cut makes "opportunities for creators to make money from their work" harder. Facebook has a long history of calling Apple's ‌App Store‌ and its 15% to 30% commission "monopolistic" and harmful to customers, adding the platform "blocks innovation [and] blocks competition." Apple and Meta had a public dispute in 2020 where the Cupertino tech giant refused an update to the Facebook app that highlighted the 30% ‌App Store‌ fee.

Update: Apple has responded to the plan by saying it "lays bare Meta's hypocrisy." Apple added that as Meta takes aim at the ‌App Store‌ fees, the social media giant will "happily take from the creators and small businesses that use their own."

Tag: Meta

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
maxresdefault

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options...

Top Rated Comments

OmegaRed1723 Avatar
42 months ago
What's 50% of $0?
Score: 138 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Channan Avatar
42 months ago
I wish this company would follow MySpace into the grave already.
Score: 128 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Drew Johnston Avatar
42 months ago
Facebook certainly wouldn't be getting any of my money.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Random_Matt Avatar
42 months ago
Such a hateable person.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andrewxgx Avatar
42 months ago
for their defense, were talking about imaginary nonexistent items in imaginary nonexistent world
if you pay any real world monies for this you kinda deserve to be ripped by seller and marketplace
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Anson_431 Avatar
42 months ago
Facebook just never fails to disappoint lol
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)