Editing VRChat Creator Economy (section)

== The Avatar Marketplace (May 14, 2025) ==

The Avatar Marketplace represents the Creator Economy's most significant expansion — and its most direct attempt to internalize the informal avatar economy that had existed for years on Gumroad and BOOTH.

=== What It Is ===

Announced and launched on '''May 14, 2025''', the Avatar Marketplace is a centralized, native in-client system where:

* Buyers browse, preview (try on), and purchase avatars using VRChat Credits
* Purchased avatars are '''permanently added to the buyer's account''' — no Unity, no SDK, no manual upload required
* Avatars appear in a new "Purchased" section under the My Avatars tab in the Main Menu
* Performance ranking is displayed before purchase
* Buyers can see when another user is wearing an avatar they also own via Marketplace

=== Launch Avatars ===

At launch, the Avatar Marketplace included both community-created and officially licensed branded avatars:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Avatar !! Source / IP !! Creator / Publisher !! Price || Notes
|-
| Quill || Moss (VR game) || Polyarc || 3,000 Credits (~$25 USD) || Mouse protagonist of the acclaimed Moss series; includes sword toggle, modified ASL animations, facial expressions; "iconic mascot of VR" per Polyarc
|-
| Achilles || Combo Devils (game) || — || — || Platform-fighting game character
|-
| Lens Chan || Gugenka (media) || Gugenka || — || From Japanese XR media company Gugenka
|}

The inclusion of officially licensed IPs at launch signals VRChat Inc.'s intent to position the Avatar Marketplace as a venue for brand partnerships and licensed character experiences — alongside the community creator base.

[[Graham Gaylor]] on the Quill partnership:

<blockquote>
"Quill is a wonderful addition to the VRChat Avatar Marketplace, representing exactly the kind of iconic and engaging characters we envisioned at launch. We're honored to partner with Polyarc in bringing beloved stories like Moss to life for our users."
<br/>— <i>Graham Gaylor, CEO, VRChat Inc. — May 14, 2025</i>
</blockquote>

=== What the Avatar Marketplace Does NOT Replace ===

[[VRChat Inc.]] was explicit at launch: the Avatar Marketplace does not replace existing external avatar distribution:

* Users can '''still upload custom avatars''' through Unity and the SDK
* Creators can '''still sell avatar source files''' on Gumroad, BOOTH, and Jinxxy
* External platforms are not blocked or penalized

This is the critical distinction. The Avatar Marketplace is a parallel, frictionless purchase path for end users — not a walled garden that forces creators to abandon their existing workflows. As community member qDot summarized after the 2024 layoffs: *"You cannot put the asset genie back in the bottle for VRChat."* [[VRChat Inc.]] appears to have understood this: the Creator Economy expands the market rather than replacing it.