Meta backtracks on the decision to end Horizon Worlds VR fans are talking

A day after Quest announced the closure of Horizon Worlds for virtual reality headsets, Meta The path has changed. The company said Wednesday that the VR platform will be available “for the foreseeable future.”

“Today we actually decided to work on existing games in VR to support the fans we’ve reached,” Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said in an Instagram Story Q&A.

Meta previously announced on Tuesday that Horizon Worlds will be removed from the Quest Store at the end of the month and completely removed from VR headsets on June 15. After that date, it will only be playable on its standalone mobile app, the company said.

Meta confirmed the change in an email to CNBC on Thursday.

Worlds developed with the Horizon Unity game engine will be available exclusively in VR and no new games will be added to the VR Social Network, Bosworth said in his next announcement.

“A lot of our energy is going towards mobile and that’s where the Meta Horizon Engine is,” Bosworth said, adding that mobile apps already have “a lot of consumer and creator power.”

Horizon Unity supported Horizon Worlds from launch in 2021 until September, when Meta announced at its Connect annual event that it would be replaced by the new Horizon Engine.

According to Meta, the Horizon Engine offers “smooth performance, sharp visuals and the ability to support large audiences.” It develops games for the Horizon Worlds mobile app, launched in 2023.

Horizon Worlds failed to gain mainstream popularity. A popular gaming platform but the platform never attracted a few hundred thousand monthly users, CNBC previously reported. Roblox Regularly reports over 100 million daily active users.

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