Meta further shrinks its metaverse strategy, Quest headsets will not be able to access Horizon Worlds

Meta stated that users of its Quest headsets will no longer have access to Horizon Worlds, a virtual space that allows users to gather and play games as cartoon avatars. This move marks a further contraction of Meta's former core strategy— the "metaverse" vision of Mark Zuckerberg. Meta announced on Tuesday that starting June 15, users will no longer be able to create, publish, or update virtual reality worlds, nor will they be able to access Meta Horizon Worlds through Meta Quest headsets. However, users can still access these virtual worlds through the Meta Horizon mobile app. This adjustment follows layoffs in the Reality Labs team, which is responsible for headsets and virtual reality business. In January of this year, Meta began cutting about 1,000 positions in that department while closing some virtual reality game and content studios. Andrew Bosworth, the Chief Technology Officer of Reality Labs, stated in an internal memo at the time that the company would shift its focus to mobile experiences rather than fully immersive virtual worlds achieved through headsets. Zuckerberg had previously been highly confident in the metaverse strategy, even renaming Facebook to Meta. However, the metaverse has long been scrutinized by investors and child safety regulators. Just a few years after the rebranding and having invested billions of dollars, Meta is now redirecting resources towards the rapidly developing artificial intelligence race. Within Reality Labs, resources are also shifting from virtual reality games to support Zuckerberg's AI vision with wearable devices, such as Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses