Meta has discontinued its metaverse for work, too

"Two months before it changed its name to "Meta," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally introduced us to his metaverse for work: Horizon Workrooms, envisioned as a virtual space for workers to collaborate. Today, the company announced it's shutting that space down: "Meta has made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app, effective February 16, 2026," reads the note tucked away on a help page."

"Meta will also no longer sell its headsets and software as a service for businesses, another help page reads: "We are stopping sales of Meta Horizon managed services and commercial SKUs of Meta Quest, effective February 20, 2026." Meta just laid off roughly 10 percent of its entire Reality Labs division, over 1,000 jobs. In the aftermath, it's becoming increasingly clear that Zuckerberg has changed his mind about what the word "metaverse" actually means as AI smart glasses increasingly draw the attention."

"First, we learned that Meta's layoffs had completely shuttered three of Meta's hard-won VR game studios, after previously closing another in 2024. Soon, it came out that it's abandoning future development on Supernatural, its standout VR fitness app, and that it has reportedly gutted the studio behind Batman: Arkham Shadow as well. What's next, Horizon Worlds? Maybe Meta will draw the line there, because it's one of the few VR experiences Meta has made available on mobile phones too;"

Meta will discontinue Horizon Workrooms as a standalone app on February 16, 2026, and will stop selling Meta Horizon managed services and commercial SKUs of Meta Quest on February 20, 2026. The company cut roughly 10 percent of Reality Labs, eliminating over 1,000 jobs. The layoffs closed multiple VR game studios, halted future development on Supernatural, and reportedly gutted the studio behind Batman: Arkham Shadow. The company appears to be reprioritizing away from broad VR ambitions toward other hardware such as AI smart glasses, raising uncertainty about the future of remaining VR experiences like Horizon Worlds.

Read at The Verge