"Apparently"? Why not do the work to confirm or refute the claim?
The researchers couldn't find enough users to get significant data, because no-one is using it. They called the player base "small and precious".
WSJ just copy-pasted some internal documents that someone at meta (allegedly) sent them. That same internal report claims there are 200,000 active monthly users. Nothing was verified. IMHO its just a waste of time when so called news organizations just regurgitate things without verifying anything. It may be the flavor of the month/decade to hate on Meta, but this same shit applies to more important stories that impact all of us.
Kotaku's Articles Are Apparently Filled With Mostly Empty Words
The land rush that wasn't tangible, is useless.
Whether this is the case or not, the same is true of most of the internet. I don't understand why people would be surprised by this.