"Meta sent an email blast to Horizon Worlds users today stating that the social VR world will officially end on its Quest VR headsets; starting March 31, Horizon Worlds will no longer be in the Quest store. Some Horizon-specific perks, including Meta Credits, avatars, and some digital clothes and in-world purchases, will also be removed."
"Horizon Worlds was Meta's grand foray into building out the metaverse, the aspiration of a fully virtual environment inspired by Neal Stephenson's. The company believed in the effort so much that it changed its name from Facebook to Meta in support of its VR endeavors."
"Meta pumped billions of dollars into the service, arranging high-profile partnerships with other brands and artists to have virtual concerts by Imagine Dragons and Coldplay. Even with all that pomp, Meta's proprietary-verse has always been less popular than VRChat, the social service that people actually seem to like enough to attend virtual raves and presidential elections."
Meta is discontinuing Horizon Worlds, its virtual reality social platform, on Quest VR headsets. Starting March 31, the service will be removed from the Quest store, and all associated perks including Meta Credits, avatars, and digital purchases will be eliminated. The complete shutdown occurs June 15, after which Horizon Worlds will only exist as a mobile platform. This decision follows Meta's February layoffs affecting 10 percent of its Reality Labs VR division. Horizon Worlds represented Meta's major metaverse investment, prompting the company's 2021 name change from Facebook to Meta. Despite significant financial investment and partnerships with major artists like Imagine Dragons and Coldplay, the platform remained unpopular compared to competitors like VRChat, struggling with user engagement and profitability issues.
Read at WIRED
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