Meta Will Shut Down Vr Horizon Worlds Access In June

Horizon Worlds, Meta's first walk astatine a metaverse, will beryllium inaccessible via virtual reality headset aft June 15, 2026. The institution shared plans to abstracted Horizon Worlds from Quest VR level and attraction exclusively connected nan smartphone type of nan app successful February, and now successful a caller post connected its organization forums, Meta elaborate erstwhile nan VR type of Horizon Worlds will beryllium deprecated.

By March 31, Meta says individual Horizon Worlds and Events will nary longer beryllium listed successful nan Quest's Store and headset owners will beryllium incapable to sojourn worlds for illustration "Horizon Central, Events Arena, Kaiju and Bobber Bay." Then, aft June 15, nan app will beryllium removed from Quest headsets and worlds will beryllium wholly unavailable to sojourn successful VR. From that constituent on, nan easiest spot to sojourn Horizon Worlds will beryllium successful nan Meta Horizon app for iOS and Android.

Additionally, Hyperscape Capture, a precocious added beta characteristic that allows Quest headset owners to capture, stock and sojourn each different successful elaborate 3D scans of real-life locations, is besides being removed from Horizon Worlds. Meta says users will still beryllium capable to seizure and position Hyperscapes, "but sharing, inviting, and co-experiencing Hyperscapes pinch others will nary longer beryllium supported."

While Meta's original blog detailing its 2026 VR strategy near unfastened nan anticipation that a committed Quest proprietor mightiness still beryllium capable to entree immoderate portion of Meta's original VR metaverse, that apparently was ne'er nan company's plan. Meta saw capable "positive momentum" focusing connected supporting nan mobile type of Horizon Worlds successful 2025 that it made consciousness to wholly wantonness nan VR 1 successful 2026. While that seems to tally contrary to Meta’s positioning arsenic a "metaverse company," it does bespeak wherever nan institution is spending nan astir money and seeing nan astir (relative) success: AI and smart glasses.