Meta’s collection of virtual reality (VR) social apps (Horizon Worlds, Venues and Workrooms) is a bit of a fragmented affair as you can’t switch between them as one seamless metaverse. However, part of that is about to change with Venues about to be absorbed into Horizon Worlds in June.
Meta has announced that the Horizon Venues app will be shuttered on 6th June 2022, so if you use it for watching Foo Fighters concerts, martial arts events, the Space Explorers series or any other programming that’ll soon come to an end. You will be able to catch highlights via Oculus TV if that’s any help.
Instead, on that same date Venues will get its own dedicated space within Horizon Worlds, giving the metaverse greater utility and so more reason for Meta Quest owners to venture inside. The downside, Horizon Worlds is still only accessible to Meta Quest 2 users over 18 in the US and Canada. For the rest of the world or those under 18 who do use Venues, tough luck, for now.
It’s understandable (and expected) that Meta would merge these apps, it’s just a shame that this would happen when only very select territories have access. The company has indicated that Horizon Worlds will be expanded to more countries this summer although specific details on when and where have yet to be unveiled.
Meta has been gradually rolling out several new updates to Horizon Worlds over the past few months, testing monetization tools for creators that’ll allow them to sell virtual items and effects inside their worlds. And to ensure users feel safe in its metaverse Meta introduced the Personal Boundary as an unseen security guard.
Every day there seems to be a new company jumping on the metaverse bandwagon with several key tech giants leading the charge. One of those is Epic Games, having made several acquisitions of late as well as releasing Unreal Engine 5, Metahuman and RealityScan, for example. Alternatively, there is Niantic Labs and its vision for a real-world metaverse utilising augmented reality (AR).
As Meta releases further updates for Horizon Worlds, gmw3 will let you know.