Meta can even not promote its headsets and software program as a service for companies, one other assist web page reads: “We’re stopping gross sales of Meta Horizon managed providers and business SKUs of Meta Quest, efficient February 20, 2026.”
Meta simply laid off roughly 10 p.c of its complete Actuality Labs division, over 1,000 jobs. Within the aftermath, it’s turning into more and more clear that Zuckerberg has modified his thoughts about what the phrase “metaverse” truly means. Cell sure, sensible glasses sure, however possibly not VR.
What’s subsequent, Horizon Worlds? Perhaps Meta will draw the road there, as a result of it’s one of many few VR experiences Meta has made obtainable on cell phones too; Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth already stated the corporate’s Horizon crew will “double down on bringing one of the best Horizon experiences and AI creator instruments to cell” in a memo obtained by Bloomberg.
Bloomberg writes that “Meta will proceed to develop the metaverse, however with a give attention to cell phones as a substitute of the absolutely immersive VR headsets that the corporate initially imagined.” To be clear, the time period “metaverse” was coined by Snow Crash writer Neal Stephenson to explain a totally immersive shared VR world, however I suppose cell is sensible when you take into account Fortnite to be a metaverse and don’t want the “absolutely immersive” half.
It seems that Meta Workrooms will shut down abruptly on February sixteenth, to the purpose that “any information related to Workrooms shall be deleted.” The corporate recommends making an attempt Arthur, Microsoft Groups and Zoom Office as a substitute, and likewise writes that the Meta Quest Distant Desktop app will stick round if you wish to emulate a number of digital displays in your headset.
For Meta Horizon managed providers, the corporate writes that present prospects can proceed to entry these via January 4th, 2030, and that licenses shall be free after February sixteenth of this 12 months.
