Representatives of the Match Group company which owns the online dating service Tinder announced the resignation of the CEO of the company Nyborg and the freezing of projects of their own metaverse and the launch of the Tinder Coin. The company’s plans were really ambitious. As part of the implementation of the metaverse strategy in 2021, Match Group acquired an artificial intelligence and virtual reality developer Hyperconnect.
The suspension of the directions of the metaverse and its own cryptocurrency is related to the final financial report of the Tinder application for the 2nd quarter of 2021. The company showed revenue of $795 million, which is lower than analysts’ forecasts by $9 million and led to a 22% drop in Match Group shares.
At the moment, the development team is tasked with reducing costs in view of the doubts of the company’s owners about the need for the real use of metaverse technologies. According to the results of the 2nd quarter of 2021, the Hyperconnect division operated at a loss of $ 10 million.
Also, the pilot phase of the Tinder Coin project has ended with pessimistic indicators, and several steps will probably be taken back in the plans of Tinder owners. The management of Match Group plans to return to the direction of the metaverse later, after the stabilization of the economic situation in the company.