The "Horizon Worlds" meta-universe has been repeatedly ridiculed by users for its poor quality of implementation // Photo: xda-developers.com.
A statement to that effect a statement has been released on the official Meta forum. The “Horizon Worlds” application will no longer be available for users to download by the end of March, and technical support for the virtual reality (VR) platform on Quest devices will cease by mid-June.
With no hope of profit
The “Reality Labs” division, which supervised the meta-universe project in the corporation, spent colossal sums with pessimistic development forecasts. It became clear that “Meta” intends to shut down the project in January, when 1.5 thousand employees of “Reality Labs” were laid off, the budget of VR-divisions was reduced by 30% and several VR-studios were closed. As part of the process, it also stopped producing content for Supernatural, a virtual fitness service that offered workouts to VR helmet wearers. Meta acquired the service for more than $400 million in 2021.
Exceeded expectations
The Horizon Worlds platform launched in 2021, following Facebook’s rebranding. The developers of the meta-universe planned to create a new social environment where users could interact with each other through VR devices. They announced plans to attract more than 1 billion users to the services of the meta-universe.
Meta’s expectations were not met – the total audience of Horizon Worlds did not exceed several hundred thousand active users per month. At the same time, the losses were growing. According to the most optimistic estimates, they amounted to $50 billion, but could reach $80 billion.
After June 15, access to “Horizon Worlds” for an indefinite period of time will remain available only for users of the application “Meta Horizon”.
New priorities
Starting in 2022, Meta is prioritizing its contribution to AI development. In 2025, the corporation has invested more than $60 billion to build Data Centers and AI infrastructure. Spending on this area in 2026 could reach $135 billion, some of which is the funds freed up after the closure of Horizon Worlds.
