Meta CTO: VR Gaming “gravy train” Has Stopped, Customer Acquisition Now the Real Problem

https://ift.tt/tM46Lbq

Meta CTO and Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth detailed why he thinks he might have failed VR gaming fans, and why some people are angry, noting that it’s probably because the “gravy train has come to a stop.”

The News

Bosworth took to Instagram for another one of his weekly Q&As, where he fields questions from followers. In yesterday’s session, Bosworth answered this: “Do you feel that you have failed VR gaming fans? With so many sunsets and studio closures?”

“It’s really up to the people to decide whether I failed them or not,” Bosworth says. “I suppose it does raise the age-old question: ‘is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?'”

Here, Bosworth is describing the Reality Labs re-org in January, which saw 10 percent of the XR division laid off amid several VR game studio closures, including Twisted Pixel, Armature Studio and Sanzaru Games.

Quest 3S (left), Quest 3 (right) | Images courtesy Meta

“Many of the people who might say I failed them would say so because they loved things that I gave them, and are mad that the gravy train has come to a stop. But I still respect that,” Bosworth says.

But it’s not the first-party studio closures and near full-stop on VR game funding that Bosworth thinks is the failure: it’s customer acquisition.

“I don’t think I failed them because obviously they’re already fans. They love the work. The people that argue that I’ve failed are not yet VR gaming fans, who I think could be—who we hoped would be by now, but who aren’t.”

The failure, in Bosworth’s eyes, is not having created the right product for people who haven’t already adopted VR.

“And I haven’t built the right thing, or the right software to get them into the ecosystem. That is the failure. That is what we’re trying to attack in new and different ways: is to grow the base, to make this thing sustainable.”

My Take

Essentially, Bosworth’s statement reads me like this: be glad for what I gave you, because you’re not getting any more. You have to realize that the only thing we can do now is try to get more people in… somehow.

But who are those people that Meta hopes to reach? And if they don’t want big, expensive single-player content that pushes the boundaries of standalone gameplay, what do they want? Meta’s strategy is too opaque to say for sure, but here’s my best guess at what’s happening.

For years, Meta funded big, polished single-player titles to prove standalone VR could deliver console-style gaming. That bought goodwill with core enthusiasts, but didn’t materially expand the addressable market, or drive recurring revenue at scale. That’s the only thing Meta is focused on now it seems, as the “gravy train” has effectively stopped.

Asgard’s Wrath 2 | Image courtesy Sanzuru Games, Meta

In that context, Bosworth’s “failure” comment makes more sense. It’s not that the existing fans weren’t served—they were. It’s that the strategy didn’t convert enough non-fans into regular, paying users. That, and Meta has always been the ones to ‘show’ other studios how to build VR games—what with best practices and all—but for the past few years it’s been less about best practices and more about being the only company with deep enough pockets to create prestige content for Quest.

But before running off to compare Meta’s pullback to Sony’s vis-à-vis PSVR 2, there are at least two rumored headsets on the horizon: codename ‘Griffin’, expected to arrive sometime in 2027 and possibly succeed Quest 3, and a slim and light, puck-tethered headset codenamed ‘Puffin’ or ‘Phoenix’, also expected in 2027.

That said, kids have been big revenue drivers since the release of Quest 2, which has directly translated to Quest 3S. As it is, Meta announced last year that younger users were helping to push a new emphasis on free-to-play content, which in turn has helped drive in-app purchases. Last week, Reality Labs VP of Content Samantha Ryan revealed in-app purchases increased by 13% year-over-year, which notably didn’t even coincide with a new headset launch. Quest has no real competitor in the West, so Quest 3S is likely going to be around for a few more years so younger players have an easy entry point and continue to drive in-app purchases.

And at the same time, Meta has effectively decoupled Quest from its Horizon Worlds social platform, which was dead weight on Quest. This has essentially left the Quest platform re-focused back on VR gaming, albeit created solely by third-party studios and not Meta itself. So, Quest is back to gaming without the Horizon Worlds faff mixed in, but it won’t have any new first-party sponsored content either.

In all, this feel less like abandonment and more like a tactical retreat. Meta is investing in VR more than anyone, not to mention upcoming AR glasses and possible quick follow-up to Meta Ray-Ban Display. Games will still come, and some may even benefit from Meta funding to some extent, albeit not at the same scale as before. At least as Meta presents it, the long-term vision is still there; it just needs more sustainable spending and a different model to scale.

The post Meta CTO: VR Gaming “gravy train” Has Stopped, Customer Acquisition Now the Real Problem appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/TZi5PnC
via IFTTT

Meta Finally Brings ‘Beat Saber’ to Horizon Plus, Keeps DLC Behind Paywall

https://ift.tt/HxDKF3a

Meta has finally brought VR’s favorite block-slashing rhythm game to its Horizon+ subscription service. If you were hoping to jump into Beat Saber’s (2019) massive swath of DLC content though, you’ll still need to toss out a few bucks.

The News

Horizon+ subscribers probably already know the score. Meta says in its terms and conditions that apps in the 100+ catalogue only include the base games themselves, and not free access to paid DLC, in-game currency, etc.

Normally priced at $30, the base comes with 62 free songs which arrived from its eight OST Music Pack drops, Extras, and Camellia Pack. Excluding the 26 purchasable Mixtape and Music Packs released over the years, Meta has brought a total of 239 paid songs to the game—effectively making the bulk of Beat Saber’s content paywalled.

Notably, Horizon+ members must keep paying the $8 per-month subscription price (or $60 annual) to retain access to games. Still, it’s not a bad deal—especially considering every new Quest 3 and Quest 3S purchase comes with a three-month trial.

Popular titles included in the 100+ catalogue include Ghosts of Tabor, Job Simulator, Red Matter, Cubism, Pistol Whip, Moss, Walkabout Mini Golf, Demeo Battles, and Asgard’s Wrath 2.

It also benefits from monthly game drops, with March including Arizona Sunshine Remake and The Pirate: Republic of Nassau. You can see the full list here.

My Take

Meta is essentially making Beat Saber free to all new users, many of whom probably would have bought the game anyway. Granted, that’s through a three-month trial, although it may be enough for users to personally figure out whether the calculus of Horizon+ shakes out in their favor.

It is slightly more insidious than that though. Once you buy a DLC pack for a Horizon+ game like Beat Saber, the sunk cost fallacy takes over. You need to either buy the game once the trial ends, start paying for Horizon+ indefinitely to keep the game and access to DLC, or part ways entirely—knowing you have DLC for a game you don’t actually own, (and will never get a refund for).

By putting its most popular first-party game in Horizon+ though, it says to me that not only is the game possibly nearing end-of-life (or at least end of any heavy-hitting DLC), but that Meta is attempting to make Horizon+ into its biggest revenue streams moving forward—because it’s certainly not funding games like it used to.

That said, Meta announced last month that Horizon+ had topped over one million active subscribers throughout the course of 2025. Nobody really knows how Meta defines “active,” or whether that includes users on the three-month trial, but the company doesn’t tend to reveal user numbers/sales volumes unless they reach significant milestones, making it a first any way you slice it.

The post Meta Finally Brings ‘Beat Saber’ to Horizon Plus, Keeps DLC Behind Paywall appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/MgLFlZK
via IFTTT

‘Evangelion’ VR Game Will Primarily Use Hand-tracking, Increasing Ease-of-use at Cost of Interaction Fidelity

https://ift.tt/Rd2gSOy

At the Neon Genesis Evangelion 30th Anniversary event in Tokyo this weekend, Pixelity showed off its upcoming XR game EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS, revealing it’s going all-in on hand-tracking.

The News

On stage at the event, game director MK Choi gave a quick overview of the game, noting that Evangelion: Cross Reflections will feature “controller-free interaction, utilizing hand-tracking technology that allows players to perform all actions using only hand and finger movements.”

Demo booths were available on-site, giving a few lucky event-goers a first public hands-on with the game. We haven’t seen a full demo session in action yet, although X user ‘togepytogepi‘ showed off a bit of the hand-tracking-based interactions, seen in the videos below:

EVANGELION: Δ CROSS REFLECTIONS demo, courtesy @togepytogepi pic.twitter.com/0qIxhauyvJ

— Scott Hayden (@vrbosenet) February 24, 2026

From the video, it appears the user is punching, shooting and selecting specific buffs that trigger quick-time events, requiring the user to punch a series of stars in order.

While the demo appears to focus on combat and less on story elements, X user ‘EVA_Armaros‘ also managed to capture what appears to be the game’s first official hype video:

エヴァゲー最新作たのしみすぎる！！！
VRデバイス買わなきゃ pic.twitter.com/6glGNkXbJZ

— アルマロス@エヴァフェス1,3日目参戦 (@EVA_Armaros) February 21, 2026

Evangelion: Cross Reflections is slated arrive as a three-part series based on the story of all 26 episodes of the original anime, with the first instalment expected to arrive in 2026. The studio hasn’t detailed target platform yet, however it seems fairly clear we can count at least on the Quest platform.

There are set to be new characters however, as following Choi’s presentation, four voice actors portraying the game’s newly created characters took the stage: Gakuto Kajiwara as Martin Dason Holloway, Hana Hishikawa as Rimi Okada, Tasuku Hatanaka as Tomohito Yagi, and Manaka Iwami as Erisa Nozaki.

On stage, it was also announced that global hands-on events are scheduled to take place throughout the year leading up to release this year. We’ll be following the studio’s X profile for more information in the meantime.

My Take

Although Evangelion: Cross Reflections could include support for standard VR controllers, the decision to primarily rely on hand-tracking essentially signals that it’s targeting much casual gameplay.

At least from the limited gameplay we’ve seen—which rightfully might even be in-progress tutorial stuff—it’s suggesting that Evangelion fans should probably expect something more in the vein of a VR narrative experience, similar to what we saw with Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom.

Personally speaking, I honestly it’s going going to be as on-rails as Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom, which felt like it was straddling passive film and dulled gameplay stuff. For me, it ended up feeling more like an extended demo (or brand activation) than something that really tapped into the immersive possibility of having your own mecha fighting robot.

The post ‘Evangelion’ VR Game Will Primarily Use Hand-tracking, Increasing Ease-of-use at Cost of Interaction Fidelity appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/DSOI9ks
via IFTTT

Meta’s ‘Horizon Plus’ Game Subscription Service Now Has Over 1M Active Members

https://ift.tt/hdluHWU

Meta announced that its Horizon+ game subscription service topped over one million active subscribers.

Reality Labs VP of Content Samantha Ryan revealed the figure in a developer blog post, noting the service now boasts a games catalog of over 100 titles in addition to its rotating dip of monthly games.

Popular titles include Ghosts of Tabor, Job Simulator, Red Matter, Red Matter 2, Cubism, Pistol Whip, Moss, Maestro, Into Black, Racket Club, Demeo Battles, and Asgard’s Wrath 2. You can see the full list here.

Notably, this is the first time Meta has revealed active subscriber numbers for Horizon+, which was previously known as ‘Quest+’ when it first launched in 2023.

Meta’s Q4 2025 earnings didn’t offer much granularity when it comes to Reality Labs revenue, however since Horizon+ costs $8 per month, or $60 per year, this could put its revenue somewhere between $60 – $96 million.

Granted, that’s provided the company isn’t actually counting users of its three-month trial period as ‘active’ members, an offer that automatically comes with purchase of any new Quest 3 and Quest 3S. It also assumes the one million subscriber figure was relatively stable throughout 2025, and didn’t see any dramatic spikes that would otherwise skew that estimation lower.

Additionally, Ryan notes Meta had “a tremendous holiday season that was on par with our 2024 results — all despite the fact that we didn’t launch any new devices for the year.”

Furthermore, Ryan says that total payment volume on the Quest platform remained similar year-over-year in 2025, with in-app purchases making a +13% increase.

The post Meta’s ‘Horizon Plus’ Game Subscription Service Now Has Over 1M Active Members appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/T2VjUZA
via IFTTT

Meta Separates ‘Horizon Worlds’ from Quest, Going “almost exclusively mobile”

https://ift.tt/2nf5OYK

Meta announced it’s separating Horizon Worlds from the Quest platform, as the one-time social VR app is going “almost exclusively mobile” moving forward.

The News

“Our goal remains constant: to empower developers and creators as they build long-term, sustainable businesses,” said Samantha Ryan, VP of Content at Reality Labs. “We used to have a pretty well-defined audience for VR, but as we’ve grown, we’ve attracted new audiences—who want different things—and the onus is on us to make sure that each of these distinct groups can find the apps and games that appeal to them.”

Here, Ryan is referring to evolution of it userbase. In February 2025, the company announced that younger users were helping to push a new emphasis on free-to-play content.

Image courtesy Meta

“That’s why we’re changing our roadmaps to increase your chances for success. We’re explicitly separating our Quest VR platform from our Worlds platform in order to create more space for both products to grow,” Ryan said. “We’re doubling down on the VR developer ecosystem while shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile. By breaking things down into two distinct platforms, we’ll be better able to clearly focus on each.”

This largely echoes statements made by Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth last month defending layoffs affecting 10 percent of its Reality Labs, wherein he explained that higher costs and a fractured development process led to the decision.

“Having to build everything twice—once for mobile and once for VR—is a tremendous tax on the team. You’d rather grow a giant audience and then work from a position of strength,” Bosworth said.

While Worlds promotion is being removed from Quest’s suggested content feed, at the time of this writing Horizon Worlds is still downloadable from the Horizon Store for Quest. It remains to be seen when Worlds will be decoupled entirely.

My Take

While Meta has never shared concurrent user numbers for Horizon Worlds, one of the key limiters in the beginning was undoubtedly the need for a Quest headset to play. It wasn’t available on anything else, which is fine when you have a addressable concurrent userbase in the multimillions—something even the most popular VR platform can’t claim at this point.

Notably, before Meta released on Android and iOS in late 2023, other social VR platforms had already made strides in the direction of bringing support to mobile, including class leaders VRChat and Rec Room. So, Meta followed suit, and quickly found out that kids with cellphones were spending more time and money in Horizon Worlds than Quest users.

And ultimately, some of this came down to control. Ostensibly hoping to avoid publicly-damaging controversy from the get-go, Meta initially kept a fairly tight leash on user-generated content, including complexity and visual richness of worlds. Even now, user avatars are fairly basic, with the pipeline of customization funneled to purchasable accessories rather than user-generated avatars, like you might see in VRChat.

That said, Horizon Worlds experienced a much slower and rockier start than Meta likely thought it would following its initial release on Quest in 2021. In retrospect, Meta’s more recent decision to mix user-generated Worlds with actual VR apps in the Store feed was probably a last ditch effort to get Quest users finally interested in Worlds—even if by accident.

The post Meta Separates ‘Horizon Worlds’ from Quest, Going “almost exclusively mobile” appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/74lytTE
via IFTTT

Snap’s Top AR Exec Quits Ahead of Specs Consumer Debut

https://ift.tt/t1JZ2nk

Scott Myers, Snap’s top executive in charge of Specs, has left the company ahead of the planned release of its consumer AR glasses.

The News

Myers reportedly left his six-year tenure at the company due to a dispute with Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, tech outlet Sources claims, characterizing the dispute as a “blow-up” centered around the company’s strategy.

A Snap spokesperson confirmed Myers’ departure on Reddit, nothing that Specs are still on track for release this year:

“Scott Myers has decided to step down from his role at Snap. We thank him for his contributions and wish him the best in his next chapter. We can’t wait to bring Specs to the world later this year. We remain focused on disciplined execution and long term value creation for our developer partners, community and shareholders.”

Myers came to Snap in 2020 to oversee all aspects of Specs, including hardware, software, product and operations. He previously held senior positions at SpaceX, Apple, and Nokia, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Snap Spectacles (gen 5) | Image courtesy Snap Inc

This comes at a critical moment for Snap. In September 2025, Spiegel noted in an open letter that the company is heading into a make-or-break “crucible moment” in 2026, positioning Specs are an integral part of the company’s future.

“This moment isn’t just about survival. It’s about proving that a different way of building technology, one that deepens friendships and inspires creativity, can succeed in a world that often rewards the opposite,” Spiegel said.

The consumer version of Specs is set to be the company’s sixth generation glasses following the release of its fifth-gen hardware in 2024. As ‘true’ AR glasses (re: not smart glasses like Meta Ray-Ban Display), the device is ostensibly set to frontrun some of Snap’s largest competitors.

My Take

It’s uncertain why Myers left Snap; the company even disputed the “blow-up” narrative with TechCrunch, providing no other reasoning, which makes Myers’ departure an even greater mystery—especially on the eve of the company’s big consumer AR glasses launch.

Speculatively speaking, there is at least one recent sign that could point to trouble brewing in the background. Myer’s departure follows a recent move by the company to form a wholly-owned subsidiary dedicated to Specs.

Snap says the so-called ‘Specs Inc’ subsidiary will primarily allow for “new partnerships and capital flexibility,” including the potential for minority investment. More concretely, Specs Inc also insolates Snap from any potential failure.

Whether that betrays a lack of confidence is unclear, although the top executive who oversaw the release of the fourth and fifth-gen versions—notably the only two with displays and AR capabilities—doesn’t smack of confidence.

The post Snap’s Top AR Exec Quits Ahead of Specs Consumer Debut appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/8iIUwjz
via IFTTT

Pico to Showcase VisionOS and Android XR Competitor at GDC Next Month

https://ift.tt/8Za5rSL

Pico announced that it’s showcasing the core OS and platform capabilities of its upcoming XR headset ‘Project Swan’ at next month’s Game Developers Conference (GDC).

The News

Project Swan is going to be Pico’s next flagship XR headset, the company says in its GDC session description, which is also slated to run PICO OS 6, the next version of the company’s Android-based operating system.

While the company hasn’t expressly said it will also reveal Project Swan’s hardware at GDC in March, Pico says it will provide “an overview of Project Swan’s graphics performance, multimodal interaction system, and developer toolchain, as well as practical guidance on bringing existing apps or games into spatial computing workflows,” which is set to include “concrete examples and live demos.”

Pico 4 Ultra | Image courtesy Pico Interactive

“This session introduces the core OS and platform capabilities that enable developers—from XR specialists to non-XR app, web, and game creators—to build or adapt content for this emerging medium,” Pico says. “It presents a new paradigm for spatial experiences in which games and apps coexist, allowing a primary experience to run alongside companion applications in a shared environment.”

The Information initially reported last summer that Project Swan is set to be a slim and light headset weighing in at around 100 grams, which allegedly features a hybrid design that offloads processing to a tethered compute puck. Other reported features include hand and eye-tracking for input.

Then, in November 2025, Zhenyuan Yang, Vice President of Technology at Pico parent company ByteDance, revealed the headset will house a self-developed chip with a custom microOLED display, the latter of which is said to approach 4,000 PPI—slightly higher than that of Apple Vision Pro’s 3,386 PPI.

Furthermore, Yang said Pico’s microOLED displays reach an average 40 PPD (over 45 at center), and addresses brightness limitations by incorporating microlens (MLA) technology and optical compensation for uniform color and luminance.

We expect to learn more at GDC next month, which takes place March 9th – 13th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

My Take

Project Swan is slated to mark a significant next step for the company. Pico’s parent company ByteDance ostensibly isn’t throwing money at its XR division like it was before though, so it’s a new game.

Battle lines have shifted since Pico first launched its Pico 4 series headsets in 2022 though. Back then, Pico was nipping at Meta at its peripheral territories in East Asia and Europe, relying on its unique access to the Chinese market, and leaning heavily into enterprise. It also released Pico 4 Ultra in 2024, a direct competitor to Quest 3.

That same year, Apple released Vision Pro, priced at $3,500. A year later, it followed up with an M5-based hardware refresh at the same price point, while Google formally launched Android XR alongside Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset, priced at $1,800—moves that effectively reframed the competitive landscape.

Rather than racing to the bottom, companies are increasingly targeting the high end, as early expectations around mass-market consumer adoption seemed to have faltered, with Meta’s recent pullback from funding first-party Quest content possibly signaling a broader shift in how the industry approaches the consumer XR segment.

That said, I’d expect Project Swan to straddle the prosumer-enterprise segment, as the company’s next flagship probably won’t be cheap enough to make any grand overtures to consumers while simultaneously offering the very same consumer-oriented platform Pico built up over the years, which hosts a wide array of XR games and apps.

To me, this increasingly puts Pico more in competition with visionOS and Android XR, rather than as a direct competitor to Horizon OS. That said, Meta’s upcoming headset could possibly arrive next year, which is reportedly also a slim and light headset tethered to a compute puck, which may put all four—Apple, Google, Meta and Pico—in the same boat.

The post Pico to Showcase VisionOS and Android XR Competitor at GDC Next Month appeared first on Road to VR.

from Road to VR https://ift.tt/xnXYmjA
via IFTTT