Meta changed its mind: VR support in Horizon Worlds will remain for existing games

Meta is partially reversing its decision to drop VR support for Horizon Worlds, maintaining VR access for existing Unity engine games but shifting future development to the new flat-screen-focused Horizon Engine. This is reported by UploadVR:

In case you somehow missed it, xrust reminds, on Tuesday Meta officially announced the end of support for VR on its Horizon Worlds platform, meaning it will only be viewable on regular screens via web browser and smartphones. But now, in a Q&A session on his Instagram page, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth said the company has decided to «keep Horizon Worlds running in VR for existing games to support the fans who have been reaching out to us.»

Bosworth says this applies specifically to worlds developed using the Horizon Unity runtime, suggesting that this applies to those created inside VR or using the Horizon Desktop Editor, but not those created for the new Horizon Engine using Horizon Studio.

Thus, there is a clear technical division: the legacy version of Horizon Worlds on Unity continues to support VR, and the new Horizon Engine is completely focused on regular screens. VR support will continue through the Horizon Worlds VR app, which Bosworth said will remain in the Quest store «for the foreseeable future.»

However, the operating system will not recommend specific worlds, and they will not appear in the app store. Horizon Worlds will be just another app in the store. As for the reason for the lack of VR support in the Horizon Engine, Bosworth repeated the explanation he's been giving for two months now: «because a lot of the energy of consumers and creators was already focused on that, so we're focusing on that.»

Xrust Meta changed its mind: VR support in Horizon Worlds will remain for existing games