Months after cutting 10% of its Reality Labs division, the group responsible for VR offerings, the company has officially shut down the app once meant to be the first major step towards the Metaverse.
Meta’s Horizon Worlds social gaming service will now be inaccessible on Quest VR devices as well as the company’s digital store. Instead, the company says it is pushing the app over to mobile devices.
The company says it is now “shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile.” The announcement is also filled with statements like, “we’re doubling down on the VR developer ecosystem,” that are attempting to head off any suggestion that Meta is retreating from the mixed-reality space.
The following was originally published January 15, 2026:
Meta has proceeded with layoffs in its Reality Labs division, cutting over 1,000 employees in an effort to reallocate resources towards wearables. The Reality Labs division was tasked with heading up the now-defunct Metaverse, as well as Meta’s VR headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses.
The downsizing was announced on Tuesday via an internal memo written by Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, according to reporting by Bloomberg.
“We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables,” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed to SFGATE, a local San Francisco publication. “This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year.”
According to Bloomberg, Reality Labs has seen a los of $71 billion in the last five years, attributed in large part to its attempt at creating the Metaverse. This year’s layoffs are part of a multi-pronged approach to stem the bleeding, complimented by the division shifting focus to its successful wearables.
The following was originally published December 12, 2025:
Meta’s push for the Metaverse has had disappointing results, and the company now reportedly plans to pull back from its virtual reality efforts. Meta’s line of Quest headsets has been struggling, so much so that, according to reports from Bloomberg and Business Insider, Meta is planning extensive cuts its Reality Labs division. Moreover, future headsets may be delayed, if not scrapped outright.
Amazon unveils smart glasses for delivery drivers
Bloomberg reports that, beginning in January, up to 30% of Reality Labs’ budget could be on the chopping block. Business Insider has released leaked internal memos from VP of Reality Labs Maher Saba that reveal that two upcoming headsets, one codenamed Phoenix and the other a entry in the Quest lineup, are being delayed. Phoenix is purportedly being designed as a rival to the Apple Vision Pro, focusing on AR applications with OLED displays. Saba states that the company is delaying the device to have more ‘breathing room’ to ‘get things right.’ The memo suggests that Phoenix will now not be arriving until 2027, while the Quest 4 could be pushed as late as 2028.
