meta – Tech News

Meta decides not to shut down Horizon Worlds on VR after all

According to an Instagram post from Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth, Meta is not shutting down VR support for Horizon Worlds after all, which should come as a huge relief to, like, five people. Even if Horizon Worlds will now remain accessible via Quest, the fact that Meta planned to shut it down is proof enough that the metaverse — or at least how it was imagined in VR — turned out to be a black hole where Reality Labs funding went to die.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/19/meta-decides-not-to-shut-down-horizon-worlds-on-vr-after-all/

This App Warns You if Someone Is Wearing Smart Glasses Nearby

A new hobbyist developed app warns if people nearby may be wearing smart glasses, such as Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses, which stalkers and harassers have repeatedly used to film people without their knowledge or consent. The app scans for smart glasses’ distinctive Bluetooth signatures and sends a push alert if it detects a potential pair of glasses in the local area.
https://www.404media.co/this-app-warns-you-if-someone-is-wearing-smart-glasses-nearby/

Meta’s metaverse leaves virtual reality

Meta has announced a major update for its immersive virtual world, Horizon Worlds, on Thursday that will see it leave the metaverse behind. The tech giant said it’s shifting focus for Horizon Worlds to be “almost exclusively mobile” and that it’s “explicitly separating” its Quest VR platform from the virtual world.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/20/meta-metaverse-leaves-vr-horizon-worlds-mobile/

Well, there goes the metaverse

Meta’s enormous bet on virtual reality ended last week, with the company reportedly laying off roughly 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division — about 10% of the unit’s staff — and shutting down several VR game studios, according to The Wall Street Journal. It’s a huge reversal for a company that, just four years ago, staked its entire identity on the concept.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/19/well-there-goes-the-metaverse/

Meta’s metaverse layoffs apparently include some of its VR studios

Meta is laying off about 10 percent of its Reality Labs metaverse division, and the cuts include closing down some of its VR gaming studios. In a statement about the broader Reality Labs layoffs, Clayton said that “We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year.”
https://www.theverge.com/news/861420/meta-reality-labs-layoffs-vr-studios-twisted-pixel-sanzaru-armature

Threads is developing in-message games

Threads is exploring games in chats, beginning with a basketball game. Launching in-message games would give Threads an edge over competitors like X and Bluesky, which don’t offer built-in games. It’s also worth noting this isn’t the first time Meta has explored in-message gaming, as Instagram launched a hidden emoji game in DMs last year.
https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/06/threads-is-developing-in-message-games/

Meta eyes big cuts to its metaverse budget in the AI era

According to Bloomberg News, Meta is considering slashing its metaverse spending by as much as 30% in 2026 — although no plans are final yet — after meetings at Zuckerberg’s Hawaii compound laid out a slimmer future for its namesake ambitions. For three years, the company tried to brute-force another new reality into existence: new name, new stock ticker, new keynote vocabulary about “presence” and “embodied internet.”
https://qz.com/meta-metaverse-cuts-mark-zuckerberg-reality-labs