Meta moves Horizon Worlds off Quest and ends its VR version in June

In short: Meta is turning Horizon Worlds into a phone-only app and shutting down its VR version on Meta Quest.

What happened

Meta says Horizon Worlds, its main “virtual world” app, will no longer be part of the Meta Quest VR platform. Instead, it will move to a mobile-only approach.

Meta will remove Horizon Worlds from the Meta Quest store by March 31, 2026. The company says it will fully discontinue the VR version on June 15, 2026.

This change comes as Meta puts less focus on its earlier “metaverse” plan, which was about spending time in shared virtual spaces using VR headsets (like putting on goggles to enter a digital room). Reality Labs, the part of Meta that builds VR and related products, has lost nearly $80 billion since 2020, according to the report.

Meta is also changing where it spends money and staff time. In January 2026, it laid off about 1,500 Reality Labs employees, around 10% of the division, and shut down several VR game studios. It also stopped making new content for Supernatural, a VR fitness app, and moved it into “maintenance mode” (meaning it still runs but gets few new features).

Mark Zuckerberg said most of Meta’s new research and spending for 2026 is going into AI compute for glasses. “AI compute” is the computing power needed to run AI, like the engine that makes a smart device work.

Why it matters

If you use a Meta Quest headset, this is a clear sign that Meta is stepping back from building its own big VR social world. Instead, Meta is betting more on AI-powered smart glasses and on letting outside game makers carry more of the VR experience.

Source: NYTimes