Meta announced a major strategic shift for its virtual world, Horizon Worlds, signaling the company is moving away from its original metaverse ambitions. On Thursday, Meta said Horizon Worlds will become “almost exclusively mobile”, explicitly separating the platform from its Quest VR ecosystem.

The move comes amid significant financial challenges for Meta’s Reality Labs division, which has reportedly lost nearly $80 billion since 2020 while developing VR and smart glasses technology. Recent decisions, including layoffs and studio closures, indicate the tech giant is rethinking its VR strategy.

Last month, Meta laid off roughly 1,500 Reality Labs employees, about 10% of the division, and shut down several VR game studios. Additionally, the VR fitness app Supernatural, acquired in 2023, will enter maintenance mode and will no longer produce new content.

Horizon Worlds originally launched in 2021 as a VR-first platform before expanding to web and mobile. With the new mobile-first approach, Meta aims to reach a broader audience and compete with platforms like Roblox and Fortnite.

Samantha Ryan, VP of content for Reality Labs, said in a blog post,

“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. You saw this strategy start to unfold in 2025, and now, it’s our main focus.”

While Horizon Worlds is shifting toward mobile, Meta emphasized that its commitment to VR hardware remains intact, signaling that the company still sees potential in immersive technology even as it adapts to market realities.