Stepping on a vast cluster of abandoned buildings, a young boy rushes towards a rudimentary room resembling a shipping container. After donning his VR headset, the world before him transforms into a snowy mountain landscape. With expertise, the boy gracefully glides down the steep slopes of the snow-covered mountains. In the future depicted in the movie "Ready Player One," the expansive yet intricate scene design fulfills our fantasies of a virtual world.

A year ago, we were all deeply moved by the vision painted by the "metaverse" – where each person has their own online avatar, allowing them to experience everything in a virtual world as real as reality without leaving home.

While the metaverse trend gradually cools off and VR/AR technology is not yet mature enough, the virtual social track, which comes close to the metaverse concept, continues to produce new products. One such product we previously reported on is Bondee, which gained significant recognition when it first launched in the hot Southeast Asian market and the high-entry barrier Japanese and Korean markets.

Recently, while perusing the charts, I came across a metaverse social product called "인사이드 - Inside" (translatable as "Inside: Social Metaverse" hereinafter referred to as Inside) that has been released on the Korean App Store. Despite sharing the Avatar and virtual space concept, it incorporates different interactive games and entertainment features. Let's break down the design of this product briefly to perhaps discover the secret of how it surpassed Zepeto and remained in the top 30 of the Korean social charts for two months.

Part 1: Rising and Falling, the Innovative Inside Loses Grip

Since its launch in July 2022, Inside has briefly gone through a one-month hiatus. Although it is no longer possible to experience the early versions, we can still catch a glimpse of what this product looked like in the official videos released on the YouTube platform.

First and foremost, as a social metaverse product, Inside, without exception, created its unique Avatar system. It started with a typical Korean art style, allowing users in the early versions to customize their virtual avatars' hair, clothing, and actions. However, in the context of the metaverse trend in the Korean market, Zepeto, a Korean Avatar product that had already gained global popularity, was a frontrunner. At that time, in terms of overall art style and interface, Inside did not have a competitive edge.

In terms of UI layout, Inside placed features like virtual rooms, friends, and online games at the bottom of the app. Regarding virtual rooms, Inside introduced the feature of creating an "online home," allowing users to build their own little world in a 3D square space. This feature reminded me of Bondee, which also made a strong presence in South Korea.

Primarily focusing on customization and interaction, Inside offers 3D room scenes, customizable background music, and interactive gameplay features like user interactions with certain room furniture and user actions.

However, up to this point, Inside's features haven't ventured far from the common elements found in the metaverse. When compared to other metaverse products in the market, Inside has introduced some innovative aspects, particularly considering that it doesn't have a significant advantage in terms of artistic resources:

Emphasis on social interaction with the introduction of the "Close Friend Test" feature. According to the official explanation, Inside allows users to initiate tests with friends on their list to determine compatibility based on factors like location, occupation, and personality traits. This feature not only fosters closer connections among users but also encourages initial interaction and ice-breaking among friends.

1.Introduction of interactive games. Contrary to the conventional setup, Inside places a significant focus on the "gaming" aspect, with an emphasis on localized gameplay and popular interactive features to cater to the needs of local users, thereby attracting users to download and play the games.

In terms of localized gameplay, Inside incorporates mini-games such as Tarot card readings and online karaoke into its gaming social features. It also integrates the popular multiplayer game "Sugar Bean Man" into the platform, further enriching users' online experiences.

In fact, the integration of these gameplay elements is closely related to Inside's core identity. According to the official website, the company behind Inside, NewTo, was founded in 2020 and specializes in XR (Extended Reality) technology development. Karaoke products and online gaming platforms happen to be the team's expertise. Given this technological background, the creation of Inside aligns with their capabilities and expertise.

However, in the world of gaming, success and failure often go hand in hand. While the game successfully piqued the desires of many users to experience it, it has also faced criticism due to issues like lagging and numerous bugs. Over the past 90 days, Inside's app rating has dropped as low as 2.8 stars, with the vast majority of app store reviews criticizing issues with the product's performance.

Part 2: Localization, Redesign, and a Comeback – Will Inside Repeat the Same Mistakes?

Looking at Inside's update history, we can witness the team's determined efforts to salvage the app. From July of last year to April of this year, Inside implemented a series of contemporary features, including the integration of ChatGPT to offer "virtual companion" social services. However, the actual results were not as promising as expected.

In light of these developments, Inside took a month-long hiatus for reevaluation and returned in June of this year. This time, they started by addressing some system bugs and continued to roll out new content. For instance, in August of this year, Inside incorporated the popular online escape room gameplay into the app.

However, this return wasn't accompanied by a robust official social media marketing campaign. Upon analyzing Inside's various social media accounts, it becomes apparent that they haven't been actively posting updates. Starting in January of this year, their Facebook account ceased posting, and subsequently, their posts on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and other media platforms also halted. Their Naver account, in particular, has never posted a single tweet since its creation.

In terms of advertising and promotion, Inside hasn't invested heavily. Although they increased their advertising efforts during their return in June, a comparison with similar products reveals that, based on the quantity of promotional materials collected from various platforms, their promotional volume in 2023, post-June, falls far behind that of 2022. Additionally, they transitioned to using exclusively image-based content. However, during the experimental phase of advertising, it did correspond with Inside's rise in the rankings in July, indicating that Inside had already prepared for this comeback.

In terms of promotional content, Inside tends to focus more on advertising friend interactions, customized rooms, and built-in gaming features.

From a promotional perspective, Inside prefers to utilize KOLs on local platforms for advertising. For example, in 2022, you could observe influential local bloggers on Naver Blogs providing detailed descriptions of Inside's features and gameplay, with paid collaborations noted at the end.

However, as mentioned earlier, even though it experienced a brief surge in rankings during the promotion period after updates, the recent influx of negative reviews has lowered Inside's rating. Furthermore, within the three-month period after Inside ceased buying installs, its app ranking has been fluctuating unstably.

After innovating its gameplay, the next challenge for Inside is to consider how to retain users and improve its reputation.