Meta has decided not to close Horizon Worlds on VR after all

According to Instagram page from Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth, Meta isn’t shutting down VR support in Horizon Worlds after all, which should come as a big relief to, like, five people.

“We’ve decided, today, to keep Horizon Worlds running in VR,” Bosworth said as part of an Instagram Story Q&A after a fan of the show reached out to say he was “heartbroken” about the decision.

A Meta spokesperson confirmed Bosworth’s claims to TechCrunch.

Meta indicated earlier this year that it would stop supporting the social metaverse program in its Quest virtual reality title, which was a huge advantage for the program that Meta considered to be the most important part of the VR experience. As it turns out, very few people want to interact in VR. On Tuesday, Meta confirmed his case community forums that Horizon Worlds will move online and mobile only on June 15, but the announcement was quickly reversed.

Although Horizon Worlds will now remain accessible via Quest, the fact that Meta planned to discontinue it is proof enough that the metaverse – or as it is imagined in VR – has become a black hole where Reality Labs’ money has died. That part in Meta is lost $73 billion from 2021, the year that Meta also released from Facebook. Like us he pointed previously, you would have to spend $1 million a day for 200 years to break even. (Reality Labs also has funding for virtual reality products like smart glasses, as well as other AI research.)

According to IDC, a technology market research firm, sales of Meta’s Quest titles had declined 16% per year from 2024 to 2025, which makes it seem unlikely that this hardware will compete well with the smartphone. It’s not just Meta that has struggled to make reality compelling – Apple had to reduce production of its $3,500 Vision Pro headset due to limited availability.

Meta has responded to this decline by significantly reducing its Reality Labs division in January, affecting more than 1,500 employeesand closing several game studios. Rumor has it Meta thinks Another very important stop, which will affect 20% of the company.

While Meta will continue to support the Horizon Worlds Quest title, the company still plans to prioritize mobile experiences. Bosworth he said on the podcast and reporter Alex Heath that Horizon shifted its focus to mobile because it was better in the commercial market there.

“There’s a huge audience on mobile, and they’re looking good on mobile,” Bosworth said of the app. “(The team) has to build everything twice – they’re building it once for mobile, and they’re building it again for VR. There’s an easy way to increase their speed, which is, like, let them build phones.”

Mobile Intelligence Company App icons told TechCrunch that the Horizon Worlds mobile app has seen 45 million downloads worldwide across iOS and Google Play, with 1.5 million downloads to date in 2026. That’s a 53% year-over-year increase compared to last year, when the Horizon Worlds app had nearly 983,000 downloads this time.

However, Appfigures estimates that consumers will only spend $1.1 million on consumer spending on the app, which is pocket change compared to Meta’s growing revenue in the metaverse.

Bosworth is right that there’s a bigger opportunity for Horizon Worlds on mobile than there is for a Quest title – but Meta will need to see more in-app purchases to justify a profitable investment.