In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg unveiled plans for a metaverse – a virtual world designed by Meta where people will meet, interact, and essentially do everything, instead of being in the real world. Zuckerberg was so confident that he changed Facebook’s name to Meta, the first time he had changed the company’s name since its inception. But now, the company is shutting down its metaverse after pouring billions of dollars over the last five years.
Meta has announced that it will shut down Horizon Worlds, its virtual reality (VR) social platform by June this year. The service, originally designed for Quest VR headsets, will no longer be available on VR devices after this date but will continue as a mobile app.
The Horizon Worlds app will be removed from the Quest store at the end of March. Meta Horizon Plus members will also see perks such as meta credits, digital clothing, avatars and in-world purchases removed. By June 15, 2026, Horizon Worlds will no longer be supported for VR. Though, users can still access it as a mobile-only platform.
What is Metaverse?
Metaverse refers to a 3D virtual reality world where users can interact, work, play, and do almost anything they can in the real-world. Users can join a metaverse by wearing a virtual reality headset such as the Meta Quest. Horizon Worlds, launched in 2021, was Meta’s version of a potential metaverse.
It operated exclusively on the Quest VR platform until a mobile version was introduced in September 2023 to attract users without VR headsets.
Unfortunately, Horizon Worlds struggled to build a large user base. The platform is believed to have never exceeded a few hundred thousand active monthly users. The virtual environment was often criticised for its limited appeal and technical issues.
Meta loses $80 billion with the Metaverse
Despite pushing for the metaverse, Meta’s Reality Labs division, responsible for VR and metaverse projects, has faced significant financial losses. Since 2020, it has reportedly accumulated nearly $80 billion in losses.
In January 2026, Meta cut over 1,000 Reality Labs jobs as part of a broader restructuring. The Mark Zuckerberg-led firm is also facing rising AI costs elsewhere, with reports indicating that the company may lay off over 15,000 workers soon.
Why did Metaverse fail?
Vasuman Moza, a former member of Meta’s Reality Labs, shared some insights over why Meta failed to make the metaverse a success. He blamed the middle management’s inability to understand what people actually wanted. Moza wrote, The Metaverse had real legs but was obliterated by middle management completely out of touch with how young people actually use technology.”
Vasuman explained that one of his creations was killed off despite having an actual use case. He wrote, “I built a V1 tool that game developers genuinely needed, and the moment it was done, it got shipped to a team in London (to die)” Moza added, “I was reassigned to a ‘higher-priority project’ that zero developers asked for.”
He reckoned that things like this across all teams of Reality Labs may have occurred, which resulted in this major failure. Vasuman concluded, “Multiply that by every team, and you’ll understand why this never took off yet cost 80 billion.”
Meta continues focus on smartglasses and AI
While Meta has failed to get the desired results from VR, its smartglasses, such as the Meta Ray-Bans have been more successful. The company has sold over 7 million smartglasses so far.
The company is also working on releasing new AI models, built by its Superintelligence Lab (MSL). Meta has reportedly delayed the launch of its latest AI model, Avocado, after it failed to meet internal tests.
The Zuckerberg-led firm has also acquired the AI-only social media platform Moltbook, with the aim of bringing Moltbook’s team to MSL for building agentic AI.
