According to a new blog post from Reality Labs vice president of content Samantha Ryan, Meta is formally spinning off Horizon Worlds from its Quest VR platform, which is the closest thing to a metaverse. Although this decision runs contrary to Meta’s original plan to own an extensive virtual world that could serve as the future home for all online interactions, it fits with recent cutbacks to its expensive Reality Labs division and Mark Zuckerberg’s public commitment to focus the company on AI hardware like smart glasses.
“We are explicitly separating our Quest VR platform from our Worlds platform to create more room for growth for both products,” Ryan writes in the blog post. “We’re doubling down on the VR developer ecosystem while shifting the focus of Worlds almost exclusively to mobile. By breaking things up into two separate platforms, we’ll be able to focus clearly on each.”
Meta has been developing mobile and web versions of Horizon Worlds in parallel with its VR app since at least 2023. Turning Worlds into a mobile-first software platform isn’t good for VR fanatics, but it does make it a more natural competitor for something. roblox Or FortniteWhich also offers user-created and monetizable worlds and games. Meta believes this is a business that can be more easily scaled due to the game’s ability to connect “billions of people on the world’s largest social network”.
While Meta closed down several of its own VR game studios earlier this year, it still looks to support third-party developers publishing games on its platform. The company says new monetization tools, better search capabilities, a “Deals” tab and more ways for developers to talk to their customers will help drive the change. Maintaining Quest’s library of games may also be important going forward. business insider It was reported in December 2025 that Meta was working on a gaming-focused Quest headset, and Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth confirmed earlier this February that the company still had several Quest devices on its roadmap.
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