Meta Platforms will shut down its Horizon Worlds metaverse for virtual reality users in June, pivoting to a mobile-only experience, retreating from the aggressive metaverse push it championed just five years ago.
The company said in a blog post on Tuesday that starting June 15, consumers will no longer be able to build, publish, or update virtual reality worlds or access the Horizon Worlds metaverse on Meta Quest headsets.
Horizon Worlds launched in late 2021 as a VR-only online multiplayer platform where users can build and publish virtual environments and games, and interact with other users as avatars.
A screenshot of a gamer playing Horizon Worlds. sauce: YouTube
However, Meta reportedly began experimenting with Horizon Worlds as a mobile platform in 2025, according to Samantha Ryan, vice president of content at Reality Labs, who said in February that it would “shift the focus of Worlds almost exclusively to mobile.”
Horizon Worlds’ competitors, Fortnite and Roblox, attract 1.3 million and 144 million daily active users, respectively, and run on PC, console, and mobile platforms. Fortnite has never officially developed a game for VR, while Roblox has had a VR app since July 2023, although not all worlds are VR-enabled.
Meta’s decision to refocus on Horizon Worlds comes just five years after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pivoted the company to the Metaverse and changed its name from Facebook to Meta. However, these ambitions have not translated into profits for the company.
Reality Labs has lost $80 billion since 2020.
Meta’s Reality Labs division posted a record $6 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing the Metaverse division’s cumulative losses since 2020 to nearly $80 billion.
In January, Meta cut 1,000 jobs from Reality Labs and closed part of its virtual reality games and content studio.
At the time, Reality Labs chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth said the company would primarily focus on mobile experiences rather than fully immersive virtual worlds accessed through headsets.
Meanwhile, Meta shares rose 3% on Monday following a speculative Reuters report on Friday that claimed the company was “planning across-the-board layoffs” that could affect more than 20% of its workforce. The move will reportedly offset spending on AI infrastructure and augmented reality wearables.
A Mehta spokesperson told CNBC that this is “speculative reporting regarding a theoretical approach.”
But this will feed into a broader trend of technology companies cutting headcount to focus on AI.
Metaverse token melted
Blockchain-based Metaverse was once the talk of the crypto world in 2021, but it has since been forgotten, along with many other trends overshadowed by the latest AI hype.
According to CoinGecko, major blockchain-based players such as Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), and Decentraland (MANA) have all seen their respective tokens decline by 98% to 99% from their all-time highs in November 2021.
