The recent wavering decisions by Meta regarding Horizon Worlds clearly demonstrate that the dream of the “Metaverse” has remained just that—a mere illusion from which it may be time to awaken. On March 18, the technology company announced it would be withdrawing Horizon Worlds from Quest, its VR headset, and that this virtual world would become a mobile-only experience. However, just 48 hours later, the company decided to reverse course.
At the beginning of 2026, Meta introduced its road map for its research and development division Reality Labs and the Horizon Worlds project. In this document, the company had already indicated its intention to separate its Quest VR platform from Horizon Worlds and to focus the latter exclusively on mobile devices.
Indeed, in 2025, Meta Horizon counted more than 1 million active subscribers, a figure that falls significantly short of Meta’s ambition to transform its metaverse into the preferred virtual meeting space for users. In its announcement, the technology company remained optimistic: “The VR industry has not grown as much nor as quickly as we anticipated. However, it is showing growth, thanks to the years of dedication and creativity from the developer community.”
On March 18, the company published a statement on its Quest Community Forum in which it announced its intention to separate Horizon Worlds from Quest “so that each can develop with greater focus, and the Horizon Worlds platform will become a mobile-only experience. This separation will extend to our entire ecosystem, including our mobile application.”
The technology giant established several key deadlines, noting that, as of March 31, Horizon Worlds would be removed from the Quest store, and on June 15, Horizon Worlds would be eliminated from Quest, with access to the virtual worlds possible only via the Meta Horizon mobile app.
Ultimately, there was no need to wait for either of these two dates, since on March 19, during a Q&A session on Instagram Stories, Andrew Bosworth, Chief Technology Officer of Meta, announced that the company had decided that Horizon Worlds would continue to operate as a virtual reality experience. According to Bosworth, this move was in response to user requests.
Although Horizon Worlds will remain accessible on Quest, this does not signify that Meta will continue to prioritize this pairing. The recently updated plans of the technology giant make clear that greater priority will be given to the mobile experience over the VR experience.
As a result, the Quest version enters a kind of “support mode.” Users will still be able to enter and play, yet they should not expect major technological advancements for the headset version, nor the launch of new worlds. The latter is due to the company’s plans to separate the technical infrastructure of the mobile version from that of the Quest version.
Despite the fact that, in recent years, Meta has shifted its primary focus towards the development of artificial intelligence, moving its Metaverse further into the background, it is important to remember that, at one point, this project was the company’s major bet for the future. Not for nothing did Facebook change its name to Meta in 2021 as a strong statement of intent.
Behind the development of the Metaverse is Reality Labs, Meta’s division for virtual reality, augmented reality, and AI. This division posted losses totaling $19.193 billion in 2025, with cumulative losses of $73 billion since 2021. Of course, this considerable financial drain is not due exclusively to investment in the Metaverse, since, as previously mentioned, Meta’s focus has shifted and now centers on generative AI. Nevertheless, it is crucial to contextualize the efforts behind this stalled project.
In January 2026, the publication The New York Times reported that Meta planned to reduce Reality Labs’ staff by 10 percent, which would affect 1,500 employees. Now, according to an exclusive by Reuters, Meta is considering a massive round of layoffs that could affect 20 percent of the company as it seeks to offset the costly investments in AI infrastructure, while moving into a new stage where it aims to be leaner and more efficient, thanks to artificial intelligence assistance.
Photo: Meta
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