Meta’s VR Metaverse Is Ditching VR

Why It Matters

The pivot targets a far larger smartphone market, reshaping Meta’s social‑gaming revenue potential and redefining its long‑term VR commitment.

Key Takeaways

• Horizon Worlds shifting focus to mobile platforms.
• Meta cuts 10% of Reality Labs staff.
• VR content now third‑party developer driven.
• New hardware roadmap remains despite mobile pivot.
• Competing directly with Roblox and Fortnite.

Pulse Analysis

Meta announced Horizon Worlds will become "almost exclusively mobile," marking a decisive retreat from its original VR‑first vision. After slashing roughly 10% of its Reality Labs workforce, shuttering three VR studios, and ending new content for the Supernatural fitness app, the company is realigning its social‑gaming platform to compete with mobile‑centric ecosystems like Roblox and Fortnite. By separating the Quest VR experience from Worlds, Meta hopes to tap the vastly larger smartphone user base, leveraging its massive social network reach to drive synchronous multiplayer games at scale.

The pivot places third‑party developers at the heart of Meta’s VR future, with 86% of headset usage already attributed to external apps. While Meta will continue to invest in new Quest hardware tailored to emerging segments, the emphasis shifts toward enabling creators to deliver mobile experiences that can later transition to VR. This strategy could lower entry barriers for indie studios, fostering a richer content pipeline and potentially revitalizing user engagement across both platforms. However, the reduced focus on first‑party VR titles may challenge Oculus Studios’ relevance in a crowded market.

Industry analysts view the move as a pragmatic response to the underwhelming performance of the metaverse narrative and a signal that AI‑driven content will dominate Meta’s next growth phase. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent remarks linking AI‑generated games to Horizon suggest a convergence of immersive 3D social experiences with algorithmic creation tools. For advertisers and investors, the shift promises broader audience reach and new monetization avenues, while also raising questions about Meta’s long‑term commitment to VR hardware. Ultimately, the success of the mobile‑first Horizon Worlds will hinge on its ability to attract creators and retain users in an increasingly competitive social‑gaming landscape.

Meta’s VR metaverse is ditching VR

Horizon Worlds is now going to be a platform that’s ‘almost exclusively mobile.’ · by Jay Peters

Senior Reporter

Feb 19, 2026, 8:47 PM UTC

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Meta, after laying off about 10 percent of its Reality Labs division, closing three VR studios, stopping new content for VR fitness app Supernatural, and discontinuing its metaverse for work, is announcing a major change for its Horizon Worlds metaverse platform. Instead of attempting to make the 3D social platform work for both VR and mobile, Meta is “explicitly separating” its “Quest VR platform from our Worlds platform” and “shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile,” Samantha Ryan, Reality Labs’ VP of content, says in a blog post.

The new approach sets Meta up to better compete with platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, which also offer user‑generated experiences that can be played on your phone. Horizon Worlds originally launched for VR, but “to truly change the game and tap into a much larger market, we’re going all‑in on mobile.”

“We’re in a strong position to deliver synchronous social games at scale, thanks to our unique ability to connect those games with billions of people on the world’s biggest social networks,” Ryan says. “You saw this strategy start to unfold in 2025, and now, it’s our main focus.”

As for VR software, Ryan says Meta is focusing on supporting third‑party developers. “While we’re proud of the world‑class work from Oculus Studios over the years, among 1P and 3P apps, 86 % of the effective time people spend in their VR headsets is with third‑party apps.”

Meta is still planning to make VR hardware; “we have a robust roadmap of future VR headsets that will be tailored to different audience segments as the market grows and matures,” according to Ryan. (That new hardware could include a new mainline Quest headset and might cost a higher price.)

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth made similar comments about Meta’s shift in strategy in a recent episode of the Access podcast, which is hosted by former Verge staffer Alex Heath.

After the not‑so‑successful bet on the metaverse, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg now sees AI as the new social media, a vision that could include AI‑generated games that users can share with others on their feeds. “There are 3D versions of that, and there are 2D versions of that and Horizon, I think, fits very well with the kind of immersive 3D version of that,” Zuckerberg said on the company’s latest earnings call.