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As virtual world platforms like Roblox and Fortnite attract the lion’s share of users and ad dollars, Korean app Zepeto has quietly staked its own claim on the meta version’s corner.
Metaversion may be a few hype cycles past – but gaming platforms continue to expand the capabilities of their immersive, three-dimensional worlds, with the ‘big three’ of Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft dominating much of the conversation.
Hot on the heels of the big players is Seoul-based Zepeto. The app, which describes itself as “an immersive social universe based on avatars,” has a total user base over 400 million registered accounts and monthly number of active users 20 million. Last week, Zepeto partnered with Walmart to launch the platform first ever e-commerce experience for physical goods.
Here’s what traders need to know about Zepeto.
What is Zepeto?
Zepeto was launched by Naver Corporation, a South Korean search engine and internet company, in 2018 and spun off into its own company two years later. Like other metaverse platforms, it is a social application where users can design, share and inhabit virtual worlds of their own making. (Digiday reached out to Zepeto, but a company representative was unable to respond before this article was published.)
In Zepeto, the experience centers around users’ avatars—virtual representations of themselves that they can create by uploading photos of themselves to the app. The name “Zepeto” is a reference to Geppetto, the fictional creator of the Pinocchio character.
With an increased focus on individual avatars and their appearance, Zepet culture revolves heavily around virtual fashion, with brands such as Gucci and Ralph Lauren selling virtual versions of their products inside the platform from 2021, with items selling for around $0.50 to $3. That’s one reason Walmart decided last week to open an e-commerce experience at Zepeto, which sells physical items in its No Boundaries collection.
“When Pinterest launched their predictions for 2025one of the trends they identified was avatar aesthetics. They’re seeing an increase in search and pinning on their platform for ways users can actually change their avatars, unlock avatar codes, etc.,” said Walmart head of brand marketing innovation Justin Breton. “That’s certainly true of the ‘big three’, but Zepeto leans heavily into that idea.
Running the numbers
Zepeto’s 20 million monthly active users and 400 million total users aren’t anything to sneeze at, but those numbers are still smaller than the numbers reported by the metaverse’s big three platforms. Fortnite reportedly has at least 650 million registered users with 110 million monthly active users, according to the data publicly shared at the platform; Roblox’s monthly active users are at par 380 million.
About 15 percent of Zepeto users are located in the United States Fashion. Compared to some of its competitors, the Korean-owned app has a more globally diverse user base; 65 percent of Zepeto’s users are in Asia – the majority of those users in China, although the exact proportion is unclear – making it a continent the metaverse’s most popular platform.
“With Asia Pacific being the core market and Europe and the US being the biggest growth markets, it also makes sense that this is a new potential growth channel to connect directly with Gen Z, where they spend their time,” said Morgan Evans, director of fashion and beauty of metaverse studio Karta.
Does Zepeto sell ads?
Like other metaverse platforms, Zepeto has started to rely on advertising as a future revenue stream in the past year. The platform was running advertising incentive pilot program between May and August 2024, whereby app creators earn a share of revenue from ads hosted in their virtual worlds. Qualifying worlds with more than 20,000 unique visitors received a cut of ad revenue in the form of Zepeto’s in-game currency, ZEM, based on a sliding scale, with 30,000 ad views earning 5,000 ZEM – roughly $300 USD – and 50 million views earning creators 4 million LAND, or roughly $160,000.
Zepeto’s digital ad inventory currently consists of two formats: interstitial ads that appear during loading screens between experiences, and immersive ads that take the form of digital billboards in a virtual world. Zepeto sold these ads, which are largely used by mobile game publishers, in partnership with Dentsu from 2024 with a direct sales model rather than a programmatic self-service approach.
Another way brands advertise to Zepeto users is by paying the company to be added virtual versions of their products to the platform. Brands that have advertised on Zepeto include DKNY, Samsung Electronics and Puma, along with a number of Korean brands across categories such as food and beauty.
In June 2024, Zepeto launched a global brand partnership program to expand brands’ presence on the platform and capture more marketing dollars. The initial cohort of partners included prominent metaverse studios like Sawhorse, Dubit, Dentsu, and The Gang, all of whom are also part of Roblox Affiliate Program.
“We believe all consumer brands will eventually have a presence on virtual platforms like ours, and our mission is to help scale successful activations faster to a larger cohort of companies and industries,” said Zepeto’s Head of Business Development Ricky Kang at the company. official release program announcement. “By partnering with industry-leading innovative companies, we’re confident we can scale compelling brand experiences that resonate with our curious and creative user base.”