Meta reversed Horizon Worlds' VR shutdown a day after announcing it

Meta has reversed course on plans to end virtual reality support for Horizon Worlds, the social platform once pitched as a cornerstone of the company's metaverse vision. On March 17, Meta told users that Horizon Worlds would no longer be supported on Quest headsets from June 15, with the platform continuing on mobile and web instead. The decision lasted barely a day.

In an Instagram Q&A, Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth said the company had decided to keep Horizon Worlds running in VR after fans said they were 'heartbroken' by the move. Meta will keep the platform available in VR 'for the foreseeable future', though with limited support and mainly for people already using existing games.

The focus shifts to the mobile version of Horizon Worlds, where downloads are up 53 percent from last year. Bosworth said there is a 'much bigger audience' on phones, and argued that building for them gives the team more momentum than maintaining separate mobile and VR versions.

The context is a long retreat: Reality Labs has poured $73 billion into VR and AR since Facebook renamed itself Meta in 2021 without a mass-market hit. Horizon Worlds struggled to make virtual socialising mainstream, Quest demand weakened, and Meta cut more than 1,500 Reality Labs jobs this year. The mobile app has reached 45 million downloads worldwide, 1.5 million of them in 2026 so far.

Horizon Worlds mobile: 45 million downloads worldwide on iOS and Google Play, up 53 percent on last year, including 1.5 million in 2026 so far.

The reversal was a response to core-user backlash, but only a partial one: VR stays alive on life support while investment and momentum move to mobile.

The numbers made the direction unambiguous — 45 million mobile downloads against a VR platform that never became the hit Meta imagined.

Maintaining two versions split the team; building for phones gives, in Bosworth's words, more momentum than keeping mobile and VR in parallel.

It marks the practical end of the platform's metaverse-first era: even the app that anchored the rebrand now grows where the users are.

A shutdown announcement is a listening event: one day of heartbroken users can reverse a platform decision — but only half-way.

As of 2026-03-20, Horizon Worlds remains available in VR 'for the foreseeable future' with limited support aimed at existing players, while the platform's centre of gravity moves to the mobile app. Reality Labs, which has spent $73 billion since the 2021 rebrand, has cut more than 1,500 jobs this year as Meta narrows its focus.