Meta backtracks on VR exit, promises continued Horizon Worlds support

Meta

• Meta will keep Horizon Worlds VR running, but halt new updates
• Existing users can access Horizon Worlds, but no new experiences
• Meta shifts focus from VR to AI and future headset development

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Meta has quietly walked back one of its more symbolic decisions around the metaverse. Just days after saying the VR version of Horizon Worlds would be shut down, the company now says it will continue supporting it—for the “foreseeable future.” The catch? Don’t expect anything new.

In an update, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth clarified that existing users will still be able to access Horizon Worlds in VR and continue playing the games they already use. But development is effectively on pause. No new experiences, no major updates—just maintenance.

The reversal comes after a wave of confusion (and criticism) following Meta’s earlier announcement that Horizon Worlds in VR would go offline after June 15 as part of a broader shift to mobile.

Bosworth said the situation had been misunderstood. Horizon Worlds isn’t being killed, and neither is VR, he insisted. But the reality sits somewhere in the middle. Meta is clearly deprioritising VR-first social experiences, even if it’s not abandoning them entirely.

That shift has been building for a while. The company has cut over 1,000 jobs from its Reality Labs division this year and shut down multiple VR studios. At the same time, focus has moved sharply toward AI—particularly what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has framed as a push toward “superintelligence.”

Still, Meta isn’t ready to let go of the metaverse narrative completely. Bosworth described it as a “misunderstood concept,” arguing that it was never meant to be limited to VR. In his view, augmented reality—and even everyday smartphone use—fits into that broader definition.

It’s a convenient reframing. If the metaverse includes everything from AR glasses to people scrolling on their phones, then it never really goes away—it just changes shape.

Meta says it’s continuing to invest in future VR hardware, including the next generation of headsets. But for Horizon Worlds, the message is clearer: it will stick around for those who are already there, just not as the centrepiece it was once meant to be.

That says a lot about where Meta’s priorities have shifted—and how quickly big bets can be recalibrated.