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The company of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, has announced that by March 31, the Horizon Worlds metaverse application will be removed from the Quest store, and it will cease operations in VR entirely by June 15. The service will only remain available as a standalone mobile application.
The company indicated that the worlds Horizon Central, Events Arena, Kaiju, and Bobber Bay will no longer be accessible in virtual reality. Horizon Worlds, a virtual 3D social network where users interact through avatars, was launched in late 2021. Initially, the platform was exclusive to Quest VR devices, and in September 2023, Meta released a mobile version that allows access to the service without VR headsets.
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The shutdown of the VR version comes just weeks after layoffs in the Reality Labs division, which focuses on the development of the metaverse. In January, Meta laid off over 1,000 employees. The cuts affected teams working on VR games and headsets, including the Ouro Interactive studio, established in 2023 to create content for Horizon Worlds.
In 2021, Meta rebranded Facebook, shifting its focus to the development of the metaverse. At that time, Zuckerberg spoke about plans to attract up to a billion users, create a digital commerce market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, and provide millions of jobs for developers and content creators.
The Reality Labs division continues to operate at a loss: since 2020, its total losses have reached approximately $80 billion.
Horizon Worlds has faced challenges in attracting users. In August 2023, YouTube blogger Jarvis Johnson reported that the platform’s daily audience had dwindled to around 900 individuals.
