Meta reverses course, will keep metaverse partially VR after all

Earlier this week, Meta announced that its VR app Horizon Worlds would no longer be available in virtual reality (VR) after June 15. It looked like a significant setback to the tech giant's grand VR metaverse vision, with Meta refocusing its efforts on the Horizon Worlds mobile app instead.

Now it seems as though Meta has partially reversed its decision, with CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth citing feedback from users who "encouraged [it] to reconsider." Announcing the change on Wednesday, Bosworth stated that while no new Horizon Worlds games will come to VR, Meta will now continue to support those that already exist.

"We have decided — just today, in fact — that we will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games," Bosworth said in an Instagram story responding to Meta users' questions. "The Horizon Unity Runtime games, they're not gonna work on mobile, they'll just be working on VR. We're not bringing new games, again, most of our energy is going toward mobile and the Meta Horizon engine there. The reason for that is because that's where most of the consumer and creator energy already was, and so we're kind of leaning into that."

"But for people who already have games that they like, that they're using in Horizon Worlds, they'll be able to download the Horizon Worlds app and use it for the foreseeable future."

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Released in 2021, Meta's Horizon Worlds is a massively multiplayer online space which allows users to create and share games. Though initially a strictly VR experience only accessible via virtual reality headsets such as the Meta Quest or Oculus Rift, Meta subsequently rolled out mobile and desktop versions of Horizon Worlds in 2023.

Last month, Meta acknowledged that the robust VR industry it had predicted "hasn't grown as much or as quickly as [it had] hoped," prompting the company to readjust its approach and focus on Horizon Worlds as a mobile platform. 

Even so, Bosworth has stressed that he still believes in the future of Meta's metaverse. Posting to Threads, the Meta executive noted the distinction between VR and the metaverse. 

"I’ve said it before, will keep saying it, the metaverse is not just Horizon or VR," Bosworth wrote. "It's the blending of the digital and physical that will define the next computing platform. We can experience it on VR and AR sure but we also see it on mobile platforms. The future is here, it is just not evenly distributed."

Though the terms "virtual reality" and "metaverse" are frequently used in conjunction, they are two different technologies. A metaverse is a virtual world that users explore using digital avatars, allowing them to work, play, shop, socialise, and theoretically do almost anything else they're able to in real life. In contrast, virtual reality is a technology that enables users to immerse themselves in 3D digital environments, displayed via a VR headset.

As such, Bosworth is correct in that virtual reality technically isn't necessary for a metaverse to exist. Still, it is considered a significant element. Most people envisaging a metaverse-heavy future likely picture an immersive Ready Player One experience rather than playing Roblox on a phone screen.

Meta laid off over 1,000 employees from its VR-focused Reality Labs division in January, Bosworth telling ACCESS podcast that the company is investing less in the technology due to its slow growth. Reality Labs has reportedly lost over $70 billion since 2021, the year Meta changed its name from Facebook and announced it was going all in on becoming "a metaverse company."