Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Reaction to the Shutdown

  • Many see Horizon Worlds’ VR sunset as unsurprising; several say almost no one used it and they never launched the app despite owning a Quest.
  • Some are relieved it’s going away; others are mildly disappointed because the whole metaverse push had become darkly entertaining to watch.
  • Multiple commenters stress this does not kill the Quest hardware or its games; Horizon is viewed as a tiny, ignorable part of the platform.

Scale and Nature of the Failure

  • Described as a major management-case study and one of the most comprehensive software/strategy failures in recent memory.
  • Debate over whether it’s truly a “failure” given Meta’s continued financial success; some say wasting tens of billions and then walking away qualifies regardless of stock price.
  • Several point out the embarrassing “legs” demo and the low-fidelity, sterile, corporate feel compared to existing virtual worlds.

Management and Product Critiques

  • Former-insider account: there was never a clear definition of “the metaverse”; unrelated prototypes were merged, headcount exploded, and most engineers lacked 3D/VR experience.
  • Top-level criticism: leadership “can’t product,” over-indexed on features, under-indexed on coherent user value, and tried to brute-force success with money and headcount.
  • Horizon is seen as designed for Meta’s platform ambitions and corporate meetings, not for what users actually wanted.

VR, Metaverse, and Use Cases

  • Strong skepticism that social VR in Horizon’s form factor will ever be mainstream: uncomfortable headsets, isolation, awkward commitment, motion sickness.
  • Several argue VR is inherently niche, best for games and specific simulations (e.g., table tennis, cockpit sims), not general-purpose social life or work.
  • Others say the concept of a “metaverse” already exists as the internet; full-immersion 3D is unnecessary for most social/creative needs.

Competing Platforms and Openness

  • VRChat is frequently cited as the clear social VR “winner”: relatively open, user-created avatars and worlds, strong community, less sanitized.
  • Meta’s tightly controlled, advertiser-friendly, centralized approach is seen as fundamentally at odds with the messy openness that made the early web and VRChat succeed.
  • Some think a future open, PC-like headset (e.g., Steam-based) could unlock more experimentation, though others doubt it will change mainstream reluctance to wear headsets.

Broader Industry and Strategy Context

  • Disagreement over how “all-in” other giants were: some say only Meta truly bet the company; others argue Microsoft (Hololens/WMR) and Apple (Vision Pro) also hit similar walls.
  • Hardware is generally praised (especially Quest value), but many feel Meta overbuilt infrastructure for a use case that never existed.
  • Several note that AI hype and real revenue prospects have displaced the metaverse narrative inside and outside Meta.