Meta Platforms, Inc. has announced that users of its Quest headsets will no longer have access to Horizon Worlds. This virtual destination, where individuals can meet and play games using cartoon avatars, represents a further contraction of the "metaverse" vision once championed as a core strategy by Mark Zuckerberg. The company stated that starting June 15, consumers will be unable to build, publish, or update virtual reality worlds on Meta Quest headsets, nor access Meta Horizon Worlds through the device. Users can still visit these virtual worlds via the Meta Horizon mobile app.
In a blog post, Meta indicated it is shifting the focus of Worlds "almost entirely to mobile," signaling the upcoming changes. This move follows recent workforce reductions within the team responsible for the headsets and virtual reality products, known as the Reality Labs division. In January, Meta began eliminating 1,000 positions from this unit and shuttered several virtual reality game and content studios.
Andrew Bosworth, the Chief Technology Officer leading Reality Labs, informed employees in a letter that Meta would prioritize mobile experiences over fully immersive virtual worlds accessed through headsets. Zuckerberg's push into the metaverse—a commitment so strong it prompted the rebranding of Facebook to Meta—has long faced scrutiny from investors and child safety regulators. Just a few years after the name change and after investing hundreds of billions of dollars, the company has redirected its spending toward the rapidly advancing field of artificial intelligence.
Within Reality Labs, resources have shifted away from VR games toward wearable products that advance Zuckerberg's AI ambitions, including the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
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