Swiping left: Tinder pulls back on Metaverse dating plans

cointelegraph.com:

Match Group, the parent company of popular dating app Tinder, says it is cutting funding for Web3-related research and development amid disappointing Q2 earnings and the departure of Tinder'scurrent CEO. 

In a letter to shareholders on Aug. 2, Match Group CEO Bernard Kim revealed that it will be scaling back its Metaverse investments as well as scrapping plans to release an in-app virtual currency called Tinder Coins.

The move also comes alongside the resignation of Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg, the company’s first female CEO that had initially set out plans to introduce the “Tinderverse” after acquiring a video-AI and augmented reality company called Hyperconnect in 2021.

Nyborg had planned for Hyperconnect to further develop its avatar-based “Single Town” experience as a way for Tinder users to meet and interact with one another in virtual spaces in the future.

While Kim did not explicitly state reasons for Nyborg’s departure, he highlighted that Tinder “has not been able to realize the monetization success that we typically deliver” throughout the past few quarters.

In his letter, Kim said that Match Group would continue to watch the Metaverse space but would prefer to wait for the “appropriate time.”

Kim went on to disclose that plans to release an in-app virtual currency, Tinder Coins had also been scrapped due to “mixed results” from testing.

“We also intend to do more thinking about virtual goods to ensure that they can be a real driver for Tinder’s next leg of growth and help us unlock the untapped power users on the platform,” he added.

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“We’ll continue to evaluate this space carefully, and we will consider moving forward at the