Meta Backtracks, Will Hold Horizon Worlds VR Assist “For Existing Games”

Backtracking on what it introduced earlier this week, Meta now says it is going to maintain Horizon Worlds VR assist “for existing games”.

If you one way or the other missed it, on Tuesday Meta formally introduced that its Horizon Worlds “metaverse” platform would drop VR assist in June, which means it could solely be obtainable as a flatscreen expertise for the net and smartphones.

But now, in an “ask me anything” session on his Instagram web page, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says the corporate has determined to “keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games to support the fans who’ve reached out”.

“I have a little bit of good news here for you then. We have decided, just today in fact, that we will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games, to support the fans who’ve reached out like yourself who really care about that.

The Horizon Unity runtime games, they’re not going to work on mobile, they’ll just be working in VR. We’re not bringing new games – most of our energy is going towards mobile and the Meta Horizon Engine there. The reason for that is because that’s where most of the consumer and creator energy already was, and so we’re leaning into that. But for people who already have games that they like that they’re using in Horizon Worlds, will be able to download the Horizon Worlds app and use it in VR for the foreseeable future.”

Bosworth says this particularly applies to worlds developed with the Horizon Unity runtime, suggesting it applies to these constructed inside VR or with the Horizon Desktop Editor, however not these constructed for the brand new Horizon Engine with Horizon Studio.

The image painted right here is of a clear technical break, with the legacy Unity model of Horizon Worlds persevering with to assist VR, and the brand new Horizon Engine focusing totally on flatscreen.

This VR assist will proceed by means of the Horizon Worlds VR app, which Bosworth says will keep on Quest’s retailer “for the foreseeable future”.

Specific worlds is not going to be really useful by the working system, although, and nor will they be seen within the storefront. Horizon Worlds shall be simply one other app on the shop.

Meta CTO Explains Layoffs & Strategy Shift: “VR Is Growing Less Quickly Than We Hoped”

In a sequence of interviews at Davos, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth defined why the corporate is decreasing its funding in VR.

As for the explanation behind not supporting VR in Horizon Engine, Bosworth repeated the reason he is been giving for 2 months now – “because that’s where most of the consumer and creator energy already was, and so we’re leaning into that”.

Back in January, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth claimed that Meta has seen “really, really positive pickup” in Horizon Worlds on smartphones, and stated that the corporate deliberate to double down on this.

“You’ve got a team that actually has product market fit in a huge market on mobile phones, and they’re having to build everything twice. They’re building it once for mobile phones, and building again for VR. There’s a pretty easy way to increase their velocity: just let them build for mobile. So Horizon is very focused now on mobile — not exclusively, but almost exclusively,” Bosworth was quoted as saying.