Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shuts down Metaverse; ex-employee says 'management out of touch with how young people actually use...'

Meta

• Meta shuts down Horizon Worlds VR platform after June 2026
• Over 1,000 Reality Labs jobs cut as Meta shifts focus to AI
• Reality Labs lost nearly $80 billion since 2020

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Meta has begun pulling back from its metaverse ambitions, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg overseeing job cuts and the shutdown of its flagship virtual reality platform. The move follows years of investment that failed to deliver expected user adoption.

Meta has confirmed that Horizon Worlds, its virtual reality social platform, will no longer be supported on VR devices after June 15, 2026. The app will also be removed from the Quest store by the end of March, though it will continue as a mobile-only platform.

The decision comes alongside layoffs in the Reality Labs division, which led the company’s metaverse efforts. Over 1,000 jobs were cut in January 2026, with reports suggesting more reductions could follow as Meta shifts focus towards artificial intelligence.

Since 2020, Reality Labs has accumulated losses of nearly $80 billion, raising concerns about the long-term viability of the metaverse strategy.

A former Reality Labs employee, Vasuman Moza, has criticised internal leadership, suggesting that the metaverse project failed due to misaligned priorities.

He wrote, “The Metaverse had real legs but was obliterated by middle management completely out of touch with how young people actually use technology.”

Moza also shared an example of a project being sidelined despite its relevance. “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),” he said. “I was reassigned to a ‘higher-priority project’ that zero developers asked for.”

He added that such patterns were widespread, stating, “Multiply that by every team, and you'll understand why this never took off yet cost 80 billion.”

Why the metaverse struggled

Horizon Worlds struggled to attract users, reportedly never crossing a few hundred thousand monthly active users. The platform also faced criticism for limited features and technical limitations.

Despite Meta rebranding itself in 2021 to reflect its metaverse focus, the product failed to gain traction beyond early adopters.

Following the metaverse pullback, Meta is now focusing more on artificial intelligence and hardware. Its smart glasses, including Ray-Ban Meta devices, have seen better adoption, with over 7 million units sold.

The company is also investing in AI through its Superintelligence Lab and acquisitions aimed at building agentic AI systems, marking a shift away from virtual worlds toward AI-led products.