Meta Horizon Worlds is an onlinevirtual reality game with an integratedgame creation system developed and published byMeta Platforms. On this multi-player virtual platform, players move and interact with each other in various worlds that host events, games, and social activities. They can also build and publish worlds similar toRec Room. Horizon Worlds works onOculus Rift S,Meta Quest 2,Meta Quest Pro andMeta Quest 3 headsets.

Meta Horizon Worlds
Artwork used since December 2021
Developer(s)	Meta Platforms, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Meta Platforms, Inc.
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	Meta Horizon OS Microsoft Windows
Release	December 9, 2021 (U.S. and Canada)
Genre(s)	Game creation system,massively multiplayer online
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

In February 2022, Meta reportedHorizon Worlds had an estimated 300,000 users; yet, by October 2022,The Wall Street Journal was reporting less than 200,000 monthly users.^[1][2][3][4]Horizon Worlds has received mixed reviews, with critics citing bugs and an unenjoyable environment that degrades the user experience.

In August 2023, Meta announced a new first-party studio calledOuro Interactive to build Horizon Worlds games. Its first titleSuper Rumble has largely received favorable feedback from users and media outlets. It utilizes new creation features such as asset imports and TypeScript that are not yet available for general creators.^[5][6]

The game may be played with anOculus Rift S,Meta Quest Pro,Meta Quest 3,Meta Quest 3S, orMeta Quest 2virtual reality headset and uses full 3D motion via themotion capture system of the headset and two hand-heldmotion controllers, which are required to interact with objects in the game. In October 2022, Meta announced that they will be launching a web version, allowing users to access the game without a headset as well.^[7] Players can explore the space around them within the confines of their physical floor-space, while roaming further by using controller buttons to teleport a short distance or to move continuously through the virtual space.

According toMeta, users can create their ownavatar, with a custom face and outfit, to represent themselves in thevirtual world.^[8] All players begin in their personal space, where they can use their menu to visit different worlds created by other users. An integrated game creation system allows users to create new worlds.^[9] Users can also create their own personal space, which is a world private to only them.^[10] The game’s website lists other features such as taking a picture within the game, joining a party with friends, and blocking users.^[11]

Part of Horizon Worlds is a world namedVenues which is used for live events such as concerts or sports games.^[12] Meta has formed multiple partnerships to be able to show various content.

• On October 13, 2022, theUFC announced a partnership with Meta.^[13] Users with aUFC Fight Pass will be able to watch live and on-demand events onHorizon Worlds.^[14] The UFC debuted the live, virtual reality events onHorizon Worlds withLFA 144 on October 14, 2022.^[15]
• Horizon Worlds will stream live music events as part of its partnership withTidal, as announced by Meta on October 25, 2022.^[16] The platform will stream a live concert series featuring artists who are part of Tidal's emerging artist platform called Tidal Rising.^[17]
• On January 23, 2023, Meta announced an extended partnership withNBA which allows Horizon Worlds users to watch NBA games for free. It also added a dedicated NBA Arena.^[18]

The development ofHorizon Worlds (formerly calledFacebook Horizon) followed earlier social VR apps by Facebook (Oculus Rooms, Oculus Venues, and Facebook Spaces) and focused more onuser-generated content than these earlier apps. Facebook announcedFacebook Horizon as a newsocial virtual world at the Oculus Connect 6 conference in September 2019.^[19]In August 2020, Facebook announced that more users will receive access to an invite-only beta phase.^[20] In an interview with Scott Stein in January 2021,Facebook Reality Labs headAndrew Bosworth conceded that the experiences in Facebook Horizon were not ready for the public and expressed concern that "[i]f you don't have… something driving a lot of people to the place, then you run the risk they're not going to get it."^[21]

In August 2021, Facebook released the open beta ofHorizon Workrooms, a collaboration app targeted at teams managing remote-work environments. The app offers virtual meeting rooms, whiteboards and video call integration for up to 50 people.^[22][23] On 7 October 2021 Facebook changed the nameFacebook Horizon toHorizon Worlds.^[24] After an invite-only beta phase, the game was released in the U.S. and Canada to people 18 years or older on December 9, 2021.

In February 2022,Mark Zuckerberg stated that a mobile phone version ofHorizon Worlds would launch later in 2022.^[2] He has also announced plans forHorizon Worlds to expand to the web.^[7]

In March 2022, Meta announced “Builder Tracks forHorizon Worlds”, a developer program for game development insideHorizon Worlds. Meta has pledged $500,000 to fund the program, including cash prizes, aHorizon Worlds bootcamp, and support from Meta developers.^[25]

In April 2022, Meta started testing monetization inHorizon Worlds in the form of in-app purchases, where a few select creators began selling virtual items, such as power-ups, to players 18 years and older. Meta also started testing theHorizon Worlds Creator Bonus program where creators are paid monthly bonuses.^[26]

In September 2023, Meta announced that Super Rumble will be available on web and mobile via a waitlist. As of May 2024, there is a growing amount of available worlds, including Super Rumble and Arena Clash Hub. Some creators have the ability to publish worlds to web and mobile.

In September 2024, Meta announced a new look for the in-game avatars. They were fully rolled out in October 2024 along with a system to create custom clothes withAI in the Meta Horizon mobile app.^[27] They also added pre-teens as an age group, which makes creators able to mark their world as 10+.

In October 2024, Meta started rolling out Meta Credits, which is a new way to pay for items in Meta Horizon, similar to Robux inRoblox or Tokens inRec Room. They can be purchased on mobile or in VR with USD. The AI clothes generator was in a beta test for this month, so it was free from October 1 to October 31. They also opened up an application to join the MHCP (Meta Horizon Creator Program), which allows creators to unlock monetization opportunities, advanced tools like TypeScript, and more.^[28]

In November 2024, the AI clothes generator in the Meta Horizon app switched to costing Meta Credits. Meta Credits are still being rolled out to users in Horizon, leaving some users unable to use the generator until they get access to the newin-game currency.

WhenHorizon Worlds was first announced in 2019 under the nameFacebook Horizon, Josh Constine writing forTechCrunch compared it to othersocial virtual worlds such asSecond Life,The Sims,AltspaceVR,Dreams,Roblox, as well as the fictional "OASIS" described in the novelReady Player One,^[35] while Sam Machkovech writing forArs Technica emphasised similarities toRec Room andVRChat.^[36] Machkovech noted a key difference to othersocial virtual worlds in Facebook's plan to let employees welcome new users.^[36][37] Sean Bowles from Apply Digital praised the platform for its ability to create monetization opportunities through partnerships.^[38] However, he also criticized the centralized nature of Meta’s control over the game, along with the clunkiness of the graphics and lack of social engagement.^[38] Scott Stein writing forCNET agreed that "[m]aybe Horizon is better than whatever Oculus had before"; however, he also observed that "there are a lot of social VR questions Horizon leaves unanswered".^[39]

David H. Freedman writing forNewsweek tried to answer some of these questions by predicting that Facebook's knowledge about users' online behavior "will explode when someone straps on a Facebook headset".^[40] This prediction is supported by Facebook's public plans to includeface andeye tracking in future headsets.^[41] Freedman speculated that Facebook could use this knowledge to generate advertising revenue with ads that permeateFacebook Horizon and "might appear as billboards, signage, skywriting, computer-generated characters hawking goods and services, logos embedded in objects and surfaces, and any other form that can be crammed into any nook or cranny of fake reality."^[40]

Kotaku describedHorizon Worlds as "a strange experience" and that the overall vibe felt "less toxic than [they] expected, considering how awful Facebook is", and also called it a "hollow, corporate shell that has more in common with an office than it does a playground, or any other type of social space a human being would willingly want to hang out in."^[42] TheGamer also describedHorizon Worlds as "less of a virtual utopia, and more of a glitchy, incomplete cluster of experiences" and criticized the current relative lack of safety features and poor management of misinformation and hate speech on the platform and described it as a "corporate reality that only investors and venture capitalists are seeking."^[43]

Vishal Shah, VP ofMetaverse at Meta, commented that users and creators have provided feedback to the team about the lack of stability and prevalence of bugs in the platform.^[44] Shah also found that company employees have also stopped using the platform, writing, “The simple truth is, if we don’t love it, how can we expect our users to love it?".^[44] However, other executives have urged critics to be patient with the developing technology, and have stated that Meta is currently working towards improvements.^[45]  

In February 2022 Meta stated thatHorizon Worlds andHorizon Venues had a total monthly userbase of 300,000 people, that users had built 10,000 worlds withinHorizon Worlds, and that its private Facebook group for creators had over 20,000 members.^[2][46]

In an October 2022 report, theWall Street Journal stated that most users ofHorizon Worlds only stay on the platform for a month, ending their interactions with it afterward. The report cites internal Meta documents and puts the monthly userbase at below 200,000 users.^[47] The same report found that most worlds created by players are never visited, and less than 9% have ever been visited by more than 50 people.^[45]

However, there are some worlds that are more frequently visited, such as The Soapstone Comedy Club, a user-created space for standup comedy that reports receiving up to 13,000 weekly visitors.^[48]

There are also creators in Horizon who have funded things like lines of plushies^[49] from their success in Horizon Worlds.

A February 2022 report by theWashington Post discussed concerns about children usingHorizon Worlds despite the 18 or older age requirement^{[citation needed]} arguing it could lead to the platform being used bysexual predators forchild grooming, while also noting the platform currently lacksparental controls and has been criticized for alleged lax moderation on preventing underaged users from using the platform.^[50]

On 26 November 2021, a beta user reported being groped onHorizon Worlds,^[51] and that other users supported the conduct.^[52] Meta responded that there is a tool called "Safe Zone" that users can initiate to protect themselves from interactions with others.^[51] A second reported incident occurred in December 2021 when a female user claimed she was virtually gangraped by about 3 to 4 male users after joining the platform.^[53][54] In another incident, a female reporter from theWall Street Journal was asked to expose herself by another user while trying to conduct interviews in the game.^[45]

In February 2022 Meta, in response to the incidents, added a "personal boundary" toHorizon Worlds andVenues which creates an invisible boundary that can prevent users from coming within four feet of other avatars. Plans were also announced for users to change the size of this boundary in the future. The boundary feature is similar to standard features in competing platformsVRChat andRec Room though with options to disable and change the size of the boundary already existing.^[55][56][57] Horizon World’s Safe Zone allows players to separate themselves from other players and their surroundings, as well as mute or block other players or certain types of content.^[58] In June 2022, Meta announced that it would roll out Voice Mode, a voice feature that allows users to garble incoming strangers’ audio to protect themselves from potentially harmful or unwanted speech.^[59]

Meta announced in October 2022 that legs would be among the first new updates to the graphics, as characters previously lacked any,^[60][61][62] however their initial reveal was criticized once it was discovered the models in the reveal were motion capture rather than being in-game footage.^[63][64][65]

On August 16, 2022, Mark Zuckerberg announced the release ofHorizon Worlds in France and Spain onFacebook (also owned by Meta), with the message "We're launching Horizon Worlds in France and Spain today! Looking forward to seeing people explore and build immersive worlds, and to bringing this to more countries soon." Included with the post was an image depicting his avatar in front of interpretations of theEiffel Tower (France) andSagrada Família (Spain).^[66] The image quickly garnered mockery online, particularly onTwitter where it was criticized for its poor quality graphics in comparison to other video games;^{[67][68][69][70]} among these included comparisons withSecond Life (2003),^[67][68]Twisted Metal 2 (1996),^[67]Fortnite (2017),^[71] andMiis,^[70] as well as generally finding the avatar dead-eyed or soulless.^[70][72]

On August 19, 2022, Mark Zuckerberg responded to the memes onInstagram writing "the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic — it was taken very quickly to celebrate at launch", but reassured players that the graphics ofHorizon Worlds were capable of "so much more"; included with the post was a more modern render of his avatar, as well as anancient Rome environment.^{[72][73][74][75]} Commentators had mixed opinions on the new render withPolygon stating "doesn’t exactly look like a place that’s appealing to spend time in, but I suppose that’s all in the eye of the beholder,"^[73] whileKotaku felt it still "doesn’t look nearly as good as what you can find in other VR offerings."^[76]

• Official website