NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the only one making long shots in the metaverse. On Friday, trustees of the Federal Trade Commission scaled back their arguments against Meta Platforms’ (META.O) acquisition of virtual reality app maker Within. But even on the remaining simplified claims, the FTC has a difficult needle to thread.

The Lina Khan-led agency has backed away from initial arguments that Meta’s Beat Saber game is in direct competition with Within’s Supernatural fitness app. That was always a strange extension of definitions that limited the market to a small portion of virtual reality and at the same time included very disparate applications.

Now the FTC is claiming the deal is anti-competitive because it eliminates the effect of futures…