Meta is shutting down the VR version of Horizon Worlds, its flagship metaverse platform, marking the end of one of tech's most expensive bets.

Starting March 31, individual Horizon Worlds listings will disappear from the Meta Quest Store, and headset owners will lose access to virtual hubs like Horizon Central and Events Arena. By June 15, 2026, the Horizon Worlds app will be removed from Quest headsets entirely. A mobile version of the platform will remain, but the VR experience that defined Meta's rebrand from Facebook is gone.

Meta's Reality Labs division — which housed the metaverse project — burned through more than $50 billion in cumulative operating losses between 2020 and 2024 across hardware, software, and content, building a virtual future that very few people showed up for. Horizon Worlds launched in late 2021 alongside Mark Zuckerberg's high-profile rebrand of Facebook to Meta. The platform struggled with low user numbers, cartoonish visuals, and widespread cultural indifference.

Also being discontinued: Hyperscape Capture, a beta feature that let Quest users scan and share 3D replicas of real-world spaces with other users.

Following initial reports, Meta's CTO Andrew "Boz" Bosworth clarified via Instagram that some multiplayer games within Horizon Worlds will be retained in VR rather than shut down entirely. But the broader platform — events, social worlds, the Quest app — is ending.

The move mirrors the tech industry's larger pivot away from the metaverse toward AI. Meta is now reporting genuine commercial traction with its Ray-Ban AI smart glasses and its Llama-powered AI assistant — products that look nothing like the virtual reality future it promised in 2021.