In an internal memo, Meta’s VP of Metaverse said Horizon Worlds is suffering from too many quality issues and even the team building it isn’t using it very much (Alex Heath/The Verge)

Wall Street Journal:
Internal Meta docs detail its metaverse struggles; Horizon Worlds has ~200K MAUs vs. a goal of 500K by end of 2022; 9% of worlds are ever visited by 50+ people  —  Most visitors to Horizon Worlds generally don’t return after first month; ‘an empty world is a sad world’

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A look at life in Meta’s VR-based social network Horizon Worlds, interacting with early adopters including preteens, parents, insomniacs, and aspiring comedians  —  Every hour of the day and night with the gamers, parents, insomniacs, preteens and aspiring comedians who are the earliest adopters …

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Meta announces Horizon Worlds avatars are getting legs using an AI model to predict the body’s position, an avatar store, avatars are coming to Reels, and more  —  Meta’s Horizon avatars will be getting legs.  So far, the company’s avatars have weirdly just hovered off the ground …

Alex Heath / The Verge:
Internal memo: Meta is setting up a New Monetization Experiences division to identify and build “possible paid features” for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp  —  A new team will be tasked with building paid experiences across Meta’s apps  —  Meta is setting up a product organization …

Alex Heath / The Verge:
An interview with Tim Sweeney about his crusade to break Apple’s power over the App Store, and how it is increasingly a problem for speech and not just business  —  Sweeney says he’s willing to go to the Supreme Court to fight Apple’s control of the App Store.  But first, he’s hoping Congress will act before it’s too late.

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Internal memo: Amazon’s head of workplace health and safety Heather MacDougall is leaving the company on October 7; MacDougall joined Amazon in 2019  —  – Heather MacDougall will depart Amazon on Oct. 7, according to a memo viewed by CNBC.  — MacDougall joined Amazon in 2019 as vice president …