JAKARTA - Amid a string of disappointing earnings for the last quarter, Match Group has announced it will scale back its Tinder metaverse dating ambitions and scrap plans to offer their in-app Tinder Coins currency.
Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg, who became the dating app's first female CEO last September, also left the position. This was announced by the CEO of Match Group's parent company, Bernard Kim. Kim himself was just appointed as CEO two months ago.
Nyborg had previously set out ambitious plans for Tinder to take on the metaverse as their new business venture. Even then he called it the "Tinderverse". Tinder then acquired a company called Hyperconnect last year, which focuses on video, AI, and augmented reality technology.
Nyborg then cites the avatar-based “Single Town” experience as a way for Tinder users to one day be able to meet and interact with one another in virtual spaces.
Now, Kim says he instructed Hyperconnect to scale back that development. “Given the uncertainty about the final contours of the metaverse and what will or will not work, as well as the more challenging operating environment, I have instructed the Hyperconnect team to switch but not invest in the metaverse at this time,” said Kim.
"We will continue to evaluate this space carefully, and we will consider moving forward at an appropriate time when we have more clarity about the overall opportunity and feel we have a service that is well positioned to succeed," Kim added.
Match Group cited the Hyperconnect acquisition as contributing to an operating loss of US$10 million in the second quarter of 2022, down from operating income of US$210 million in the same quarter last year.
There's also bad news for Tinder Coins, the in-app currency that Tinder hopes will drive more spending on the service. The idea is that Tinder will distribute the coins as a reward to users who are active on the service and keep their profiles up to date, but also allow these coins to be purchased directly.
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They will then be accepted as payment for premium Tinder features like Super Likes. As of February this year, the feature has been gently rolling out in several markets around the world.
But now, Kim says the company is re-evaluating its Tinder Coins plans. “After seeing mixed results from testing Tinder Coins, we decided to take a step back and re-examine the initiative so that it can contribute more effectively to Tinder's revenue,” he wrote in the earnings release.
The company previously said it wanted to roll out the feature widely in the third quarter of this year.
Despite overall earnings gains, CNBC reported that Match Group's earnings fell short of analyst expectations for the quarter, and forecast little to no revenue growth for the third quarter of the year.
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