Meta has revealed the closure of its virtual reality platform, Horizon Worlds. An email sent to users indicated that the social VR universe will cease operations on Quest VR headsets, with Horizon Worlds being taken off the Quest store on March 31. By June 15, the VR environments will be fully discontinued, shifting the service to a mobile-only platform. This move comes after substantial reductions to Meta’s Reality Labs division earlier this year, which experienced a 10% decrease in VR department personnel.

Horizon Worlds was Meta’s bold initiative to create the metaverse, inspired by Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash.” The project was pivotal to Meta’s rebranding from Facebook to concentrate on virtual reality pursuits. However, Horizon Worlds encountered backlash and tepid popularity, evident in the reactions to its termination on the r/oculus subreddit. It was frequently ridiculed for its initial flaws, such as avatars without legs and their “blank-eyed” look, spawning viral memes featuring CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s avatar.

At first, Horizon Worlds mainly attracted younger users, resulting in an inconsistent user base, despite Meta’s significant financial backing and initiatives, including virtual concerts with famous artists like Imagine Dragons and Coldplay. Still, Meta’s platform was less favored than alternatives like VRChat, which cultivated communities through virtual parties and events.

As Meta redirects its attention to AI and products like Ray-Ban smart glasses, it has notably curtailed investments in its metaverse initiatives, including offerings like Supernatural Fitness. Mike Proulx from Forrester noted that this shift was anticipated and emphasized the challenges of constructing a mass social platform dependent on specific hardware that lacks broad user adoption.