Meta officially announced a strategic pivot on Thursday, confirming that its flagship virtual world, Horizon Worlds, is moving away from virtual reality to focus almost exclusively on mobile platforms. This move marks a definitive break between Meta’s Quest VR hardware and its social software, signaling a major shift in the company’s long-term digital roadmap.
The End of the Metaverse Era
The decision to pivot follows significant financial turbulence within Meta’s Reality Labs division. Since 2020, the unit responsible for VR and smart glasses development has incurred losses totaling nearly $80 billion. Recent corrective measures have been drastic: last month, the company laid off approximately 1,500 employees—roughly 10% of the Reality Labs workforce—and shuttered several internal VR game studios.
Furthermore, the VR fitness app Supernatural, acquired by Meta in 2023, is shifting into “maintenance mode,” effectively halting the production of new content.
Chasing the Roblox and Fortnite Model
Launched in 2021 as a VR-centric experience, Horizon Worlds is now abandoning its roots to capture a broader audience. By going “all-in on mobile,” Meta aims to compete directly with established industry giants like Roblox and Fortnite.
“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,” stated Samantha Ryan, VP of content at Reality Labs, in a blog post. Ryan noted that this transition began taking shape in 2025 and is now the primary directive for the platform.
Hardware Remains, But AI Takes Lead
Despite the separation of software from the VR ecosystem, Meta insists it has not abandoned hardware entirely. Ryan confirmed that the company maintains a “robust roadmap of future VR headsets” tailored for specific market segments as the technology matures.
However, the broader corporate focus has clearly shifted toward Artificial Intelligence. Meta is reallocating resources away from the metaverse to prioritize AI wearables and the advancement of its proprietary AI models. CEO Mark Zuckerberg underscored this priority during last month’s earnings call, noting that sales of Meta’s smart glasses have tripled, labeling them “some of the fastest-growing consumer electronics in history.”
“It’s hard to imagine a world in several years where most glasses that people wear aren’t AI glasses,” Zuckerberg added, cementing the company’s new focus on AI-integrated hardware over immersive virtual reality.