Meta cuts Horizon Worlds VR, pivots to mobile

Meta's retreat from VR-native social worlds is a major admission that the current "metaverse" vision hasn't achieved mass adoption.

• –Discontinuation follows the shutdown of Horizon Workrooms, signaling a broader retreat from first-party VR social software.
• –The shift to mobile-first positions Horizon as a direct competitor to Roblox, targeting a wider audience beyond headset owners.
• –Separating the VR platform from the Worlds platform reduces development "tax" and allows for more focused engineering on Quest system features.
• –Reality Labs is being reorganized to prioritize AI-integrated wearables like Ray-Ban Meta glasses over pure-play VR social environments.