Tinder 'swiped' the Metaverse away
The big romance between the Tinder dating app and the Metaverse has so far failed.
The big romance between the Tinder dating app and the Metaverse has so far failed. Poor quarterly results are why the relationship is on pause.
Unfortunately, it was just two dates. After Match Group (which owns Tinder) voiced big ambitions in October 2021 to take the dating app into new realms, the next date is currently over for now.
In the Tinderverse, the original plan was to give daters space to get to know each other virtually. Now it looks like the digital dating plans are temporarily ending. In the letter to shareholders, CEO Bernard Kim and Gary Swidler, COO and CFO, comment on the next steps:
''I believe a metaverse dating experience is important to attract the next generation of users, and Hyperconnect has been working on new innovations in this space. However, due to uncertainty about what the metaverse will ultimately look like and what will and won’t work, as well as the challenging operating environment, I’ve instructed the Hyperconnect team to keep developing but not heavily invest in the metaverse at this time''.
Hyperconnect is a Korean developer of chat apps that Match Group acquired last year for $1.73 billion. Hyperconnect created the two apps Hakuna Live and Azar. Both apps enable live video chat. The company also developed a robust peer-to-peer connection, where interactions between users operate without an intermediary server.
The "Swipe Nights"
With the acquired innovation, Tinder launched the "Swipe-Night" project. This is an interactive video story. All Tinder users could tap the video app in September 2020 and November 2021. A movie then began, initially the same for all users.
At strategically important moments the video paused and let the viewer decide how the storyline should unfold. Often the decisions were ethical questions. The choices a user made were then visible on the public Tinder profile.
Virtual currency on Tinder?
With Tinder Coin there were plans to add a virtual currency to the dating app. The coin would be earned not only by being active on the platform. Completing your profile would also be rewarded with Tinder coins.
While the Q3 2021 report said the virtual coin would be simple and efficient and drive higher revenue, the current report clearly steps back.
''After seeing mixed results from testing Tinder Coins, we decided to pull back a bit and rethink the initiative so it can contribute to Tinder’s revenue more effectively''.
Is there a love comeback?
Whether this is a permanent split between Tinder and the Metaverse remains to be seen. We will continue to monitor this space closely and consider a new move when we have more clarity on the overall opportunity and feel confident we have a service positioned to succeed.
In the quarterly report they don’t want to turn their backs on the Metaverse sector entirely. So it remains exciting to see how the world’s most successful lifestyle app will develop, according to Statista from 2022 onward.
Like some other companies, Tinder uses the term "metaverse" for immersive digital experiences. It remains to be seen whether in the future Tinderverse and Tinder coins will also run on a blockchain.
