Meta reverses Horizon Worlds VR shutdown decision

Meta reversed its decision to shut down Horizon Worlds in VR just a day after announcing the closure, with CTO Andrew Bosworth saying the platform will remain active "for the foreseeable future."

WASHINGTON: Just a day after announcing the shutdown of its virtual reality (VR) platform Horizon Worlds, tech giant Meta reversed course on Friday, stating that it would keep the platform alive "for the foreseeable future."

Meta's Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth announced the rollback of the earlier decision in a video posted on Instagram.

"We have decided, just today in fact, that we will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games, to support the fans who reached out,"

Bosworth said in the video.

Original shutdown announcement

The reversal came after Meta had sent an email to users of the platform on Tuesday informing them that Horizon Worlds in VR would be shut down on June 15. Under the original plan, the platform would have continued to operate only on mobile devices.

Broader context of Meta's VR strategy

The initial decision to wind down the VR version of Horizon Worlds had followed a broader announcement by the company last month that it was shifting investments away from its metaverse and VR efforts. As part of that strategic pivot, Meta had also laid off 10 per cent of employees in its VR division, Reality Labs.

Despite the reversal on the shutdown, Meta indicated that there would still be new features on the horizon for the platform going forward.

The quick about-face highlights the tension between Meta's cost-cutting measures in its VR division and the continued engagement of a dedicated user base that pushed back against the closure. The company's decision to maintain Horizon Worlds in VR for existing games suggests that while Meta is scaling back its broader metaverse ambitions, it is not entirely abandoning the platform that had been central to its rebranding from Facebook to Meta in 2021.

The reversal also underscores the challenges Meta faces in balancing its strategic shift away from VR investments with maintaining the trust and loyalty of users who have invested time and resources into the platform's virtual reality ecosystem.