this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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168
Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access in June (www.engadget.com)
submitted 4 hours ago by baggachipz@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world
35 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

All 20 users are going to be severely disappointed.

top 35 comments
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[–] neuracnu@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

The best comment on this I've seen...

It turns out, to the horror of techbros like Zuck, that the actual core demographics for VR worlds are not edgy cyberpunk antiheroes whose coolness could rub off on them, but femboy otaku who want to go drinking with friends while dressed as fabulous anime girls without even having leave their home and trans furries who want to party at visually spectacular virtual raves then pirate movies and have virtual cuddle piles.

Which... isn't very monetizable for normies.

...yet. 😈

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 hour ago

this is happening on VRChat, not meta horizon worlds

[–] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 8 points 1 hour ago

Was this the thing with legless avatars from the uncanny valley? No idea how they wasted so much money - they'd have done better to employ a good gaming studio to make something fun that looked good. Could have saved billions there.

[–] veeesix@lemmy.ca 86 points 4 hours ago (5 children)

What a comical waste of $80 Billion. Coulda bought two Twitters with that money instead and still come out on top.

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 28 points 3 hours ago

$80bn for VR Miis that didn't have legs until last year

$80bn for "We have VRChat at home"

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 80 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Coulda fed an entire country in the real world

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 19 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Huh? Ohh, you joke, poors aren't real people!

[–] northendtrooper@lemmy.ca 26 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

I cannot fathom how $80billion was spent without anyone skimming off the top...and the middle....and the bottom.

[–] Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 18 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I’m entirely convinced the whole thing was invented to scam Meta. So congrats to all the people who got paid along the way!

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 2 hours ago

I wonder if John Carmack is among them? I remember him complaining that internal politicking made any kind of progress like wading in mud

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago

they developed arguably good headsets and then sold them at a loss

[–] XLE@piefed.social 11 points 3 hours ago

Meanwhile, OpenAI claims their losses will get near $80 billion before they start turning a profit. You've got to spend money to make money. Or to fail spectacularly. However the saying goes.

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 11 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Instead they bought Moltbook, the reddit for ai bots (only ai bots can post)

[–] JustTesting@lemmy.hogru.ch 1 points 1 hour ago

Actually anyone can post using the API, and many people did. Lots of the heavily publicized posts were written by humans

[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

wat

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 2 hours ago

zuckerbot needed friends just like him, so he bought them

[–] Kraiden@piefed.social 4 points 2 hours ago

If those kids could read they'd be very upset

[–] melfie@lemy.lol 3 points 1 hour ago

They gonna change the company to something other than Meta now?

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 21 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Reading the article, Horizon Worlds is not shutting down, just the VR access. Apparently they’ve moved it to apps you access on iPhone and Android. I see the appeal even less; that seems like Second Life mobile.

[–] rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social 4 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

I loaded up my vr headset the other day for the first time in.... A year? Maybe more.
And I was surprised to find my own custom decorated room was gone and instead I had a balcony to that Horizon place.
I could see little people running and jumping around and some portals or doorways and other stuff.

Is that what they are shutting down?
So what happens to VR headsets' "home screen"?
Does it go back to the way it was?

[–] comador@lemmy.world 25 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

'Meta will shut down'

Hurray! oh? There's more to the title? Damn.

[–] AngryRedHerring@lemmy.world 8 points 3 hours ago

I can't wait for the day that I'm forced to switch from a discontinued Meta to a homebrewed OS that supports my library.

[–] Luci@lemmy.ca 48 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Tbh I always thought it was unreleased and still being developed. My shock when I found out it was available and no one used it.

Came off like VRChat for idiots.

[–] PabloSexcrowbar@piefed.social 1 points 1 hour ago

They tried REALLY hard to get us to use it for meetings when I worked there, but nobody wanted to give up their legs Β―\(ツ)/Β―

[–] Tamps@feddit.uk 10 points 3 hours ago

This is good news! I quite like the Quest 3 hardware, but I hated having Horizon rammed down my throat through the UI. I guess that’s because they were desperate to drive engagement.

[–] _NetNomad@fedia.io 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The company shared that it would go "all-in" on the mobile version of the platform in February.

TIL there's a non-VR version of Horizon. wasn't the whole point that it was VR? what's even left if you take out the VR, just voice chat?

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 1 points 7 minutes ago

The monetization?

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 2 points 2 hours ago

Even the Playstation Home lasted longer

[–] SouthFresh@lemmy.world 13 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

20? Seems overly generous

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 12 points 4 hours ago

I wanted them to feel better about themselves

[–] CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Come on now, Zuckerberg doesn’t have 20 accounts, 12 at the most

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 9 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know why you'd think that, Human McHuman, YesImHuman, NotaLizard, NotaRobot, Normal Man, CEOsRPeople, MeritocracyWins are all owned by zuckerbot

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

You forgot all the variations of "Smokin Meats".

[–] Goretantath@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Huh, there were 3 games that were kinda fun that people made, owell maybe theylport them to a different vr platform. Also guess i dont have a reason not to hack my quest niow