The commission’s foreign aid department hosted a virtual “gala” on Tuesday night, after spending 387,000 euros (about $400,000) developing its metaverse platform, in a bid to attract interest from young people. Only six showed up.

According to one of the only attendees, Devex correspondent Vince Chadwick, it was an immediate flop and he was the only one left after “several bewildered chats” with the “five or so other humans” who briefly joined.