(Credit: Cole Kan/PCMag/Meta/Getty)
When Meta unveiled Horizon Worlds in 2021, it billed the platform as the future of the internet—a sprawling virtual playground where work, play, and social life would merge in VR. I saw it differently: a high-tech tool for social domination, hyped beyond its actual appeal. Fast-forward five years, and Meta is pulling the plug. After billions of dollars, endless marketing, and grand proclamations, Horizon Worlds stands as a cautionary tale: No company, no matter how rich or influential, can force people to embrace a platform that doesn’t meet a real need. Money can buy tech—but it can't buy engagement.
Horizon Worlds: Meta's VR Playground That Nobody Played
If you're not familiar with it, Horizon Worlds is Meta's online platform for virtual spaces. It lets any individual, company, or other group create digital worlds that you can log in to work, enjoy performances, play games, and pretty much do anything else. Structurally, it's similar to VRChat, an online platform for virtual spaces that lets anyone create little worlds that others can access. There are two big differences between Horizon Worlds and VRChat, though. One has been promoted for several years as the internet-changing nexus for gathering, playing, and working in virtual reality. The other is successful. If you aren't sure which is which, read the previous paragraph.
Meta's VR Fantasy Collapses Before It Began
Meta has completely abandoned support for Horizon Worlds in VR. Although Horizon Worlds will remain available on VR headsets, there won't be any new games for it. Instead, Meta is focusing its metaverse development energy on mobile devices. In short, Horizon Worlds is effectively dead.
To be honest, Horizon Worlds has been effectively dead from the start. At least, it's been thoroughly lifeless. I've reviewed every Meta VR headset to date, and each time I entered Horizon Worlds to see what's happening there, it's been a ghost town. I would jump on, look for the most active worlds, wander around, see maybe three people, and leave.
Then I would invariably load VRChat and see a slew of interesting worlds populated by people. Even now, I can kick back in the evening, load Twitch, and see my favorite streamers doing something fun with their VRChat communities. A popular online artist even faithfully reproduced the classic arcade game Daytona USA in it. VRChat is a more successful metaverse than Horizon Worlds, because people actually use it. It's also more successful because it never tried to be an entirely new internet or woo people into not just playing in its spaces, but working in them.
The Metaverse That Worked: Lessons from VRChat
VRChat succeeds for several reasons, but mostly because of its head start, patience, and earnestness. It first showed up on the original Oculus Rift developer kit in 2014, the headset that kicked off VR as we know it now. In fact, it didn't hit Steam until three years later. It began as a platform for dedicated enthusiasts on a device intended for developers, not everyday users. It grew from there, slowly building its user base and expanding the compatible devices.
At every step, passionate devotees created worlds and avatars, while more casual users found a thriving ecosystem of places to explore. It started relatively small and focused, and took time to eventually become, well, a metaverse. It didn't jump out, fully formed and ready to subsume the internet as the new hub of all online life.
VR hasn't caught on as a defining technology that can bring together communities and worlds, and that's fine. We aren't jumping into a VR internet from Ready Player One or any of the technological fever dreams of '90s sci-fi. Headsets are still clunky, and the experience requires more space and focus than any other technology. I've covered the VR space for years, and while it's always interesting or fun, I invariably remove the helmet/goggles and start working or playing on a conventional screen. It’s just a bit too much meshugas compared with a laptop, phone, or tablet for me to want to use it for hours every day.
VR can be successful if a company sets realistic expectations. Meta apparently sold at least 20 million headsets, and the Quest 3 and 3S are still the best values for anyone who wants to sample VR, including VRChat. That said, VR was never going to become the place everyone goes to interact online. It's not the world’s virtual playground or office. Only Meta believed that.
The High Cost of Betting on a Virtual Mirage
Meta poured tens of billions of dollars into VR with the clear and focused plan to define and own a new internet, a metaverse. The result? $70 billion in losses and hundreds of slashed jobs. It was never as appealing as a 12-year-old service for goofy streamers and niche content creators. Even as I’m writing this, there are more than 50,000 people currently in VRChat, according to Steam. No, it's not the new internet. It's also not the biggest game online, or even the biggest game on Steam. But VRChat is still here, and popular enough to keep going. Horizon Worlds isn't.
Meta's push into Horizon Worlds and VR proves that even billions in funding and cutting-edge tech can't force people to care. Building flashy virtual worlds and pouring resources into headsets doesn't automatically change how we live online; people adopt technology because it fits their lives, not because it's impressive. Of course, that's not to say something similar to Horizon Worlds won't break through one day—just like Facebook went from a college experiment to a global communication powerhouse.