Recently, Meta CEO Zuckerberg said that Meta plans to launch a mobile version of Horizon this year.
"Horizon is at the heart of our metaverse vision, a world-building social VR experience that we've recently opened to the U.S. and Canada, where we've seen many talented creators create virtual spaces of all kinds, like studios where producers collaborate or a relaxing meditation space."
"This year, we also plan to launch a version of Horizon on mobile devices, which will bring an early metaversic experience to more platforms beyond VR. As a result, users will also be able to access the metaverse through Facebook or Instagram apps, and over time, more and more of these experiences will be available. ”
The remarks were made by Zuckerberg on Meta's fourth-quarter earnings call, which reported more than $2 billion in revenue from Quest and Portal.
Horizon is a branded series of Meta that also includes Horizon Worlds, Horizon Workrooms, Horizon Venues, and the upcoming Horizon Home. These VR apps require Meta Avatar, and each requires a valid Facebook account to access.
Based on Zuckerberg's mention of Creators Building The World, he seems to be referring to the flagship app Horizons, which was renamed from Facebook Horizon in October and launched to U.S. and Canadian adults in December after two years of closed testing. Horizon Worlds works in a similar way to Rec Room, allowing users to create social experiences in VR by using controllers to place and manipulate shapes and add dynamic functionality using a visual scripting system.
But it's unclear how Horizon Worlds, an application designed specifically for VR, will run on smartphones that lack tracking controllers, and Meta may follow Rec Room's lead in porting the mechanism to mobile devices, but that will be a huge effort and could also result in a mobile version of Horizon Worlds unable to create content or engage with interactions.