Meta shifts Horizon Worlds to mobile, moving away from VR

Meta is fundamentally reshaping its immersive platform, Horizon Worlds, signaling a departure from its original metaverse-centric strategy. The company announced on Thursday that it is pivoting the platform to be “almost exclusively mobile,” effectively decoupling the virtual world from its Quest VR hardware ecosystem.

This strategic shift comes after years of heavy financial pressure on the Reality Labs division, which focuses on VR and smart glasses. Since 2020, the unit has reported losses of nearly $80 billion. The transition of Horizon Worlds is part of a broader contraction within the division, which recently saw a 10% workforce reduction—affecting roughly 1,500 employees—and the closure of several dedicated VR game studios.

Chasing the mobile market

By prioritizing a mobile-first experience, Meta aims to pivot Horizon Worlds into a competitor for massive social gaming ecosystems like Fortnite and Roblox. Since its 2021 launch, the platform has expanded from VR-only to web and mobile access, but the company now views mobile as the primary vehicle for growth.

“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,” said Samantha Ryan, VP of content at Reality Labs, in a blog post. “You saw this strategy start to unfold in 2025, and now, it’s our main focus.”

Future of Reality Labs

Despite the pivot, Meta maintains that it is not abandoning VR hardware entirely. Ryan emphasized that the company retains a “robust roadmap” for future headsets designed for specific audience segments as the market evolves. However, internal changes suggest a consolidation of resources:

• The VR fitness app Supernatural, acquired in 2023, is entering “maintenance mode” and will no longer produce new content.
• Investment priorities have shifted heavily toward Artificial Intelligence and AI-integrated wearables.

During the company’s most recent earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg underscored this shift in hardware focus, noting that sales for Meta’s smart glasses have tripled over the last year. “It’s hard to imagine a world in several years where most glasses that people wear aren’t AI glasses,” Zuckerberg stated, describing the product as one of the fastest-growing electronics in history.