Renate Nyborg, the CEO of the dating app Tinder, left her position less than a year after taking it on after the business released lackluster second-quarter statistics.
Match Group, Tinder’s parent company has said it is reducing Tinder’s objectives for metaverse dating and abandoning plans to provide an in-app Tinder Coins currency in the wake of unsatisfactory financial results for the most recent quarter.
Nyborg had grand aspirations for Tinder’s version of the metaverse, which she dubbed the “Tinderverse.” The company Hyperconnect, which specializes in video, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality technology, was acquired by Tinder last year. Nyborg later cited its avatar-based “Single Town” experience as a way Tinder’s users might one day be able to meet and interact with one another in virtual settings.
Bernard Kim, CEO of Match Group says he’s instructed Hyperconnect to reduce activity. “Given uncertainty about the ultimate contours of the metaverse and what will or won’t work, as well as the more challenging operating environment, I’ve instructed the Hyperconnect team to iterate but not invest heavily in metaverse at this time,” Kim said. “We’ll continue to evaluate this space carefully, and we will consider moving forward at the appropriate time when we have more clarity on the overall opportunity and feel we have a service that is well-positioned to succeed.”
In comparison to operating gain of $210 million in the same quarter last year, Match Group attributed its $10 million operating loss in the second quarter of 2022 to the Hyperconnect acquisition.
The in-app currency that Tinder had hoped would drive increased spending on the service, Tinder Coins, received bad news as well. The concept behind Tinder’s coin system was to reward users for using the app frequently and updating their profiles while also making coins available for direct purchase. The premium Tinder features, such Super Likes, would then be accepted in exchange for them. The functionality had undergone a soft rollout in a select number of international regions as of February this year.
Now, though, Kim reports that the company is rethinking its intentions for Tinder Coins. “After seeing mixed results from testing Tinder Coins, we’ve decided to take a step back and re-examine that initiative so that it can more effectively contribute to Tinder’s revenue,” he wrote in the earnings release.