Meta has reversed its decision to shut down Horizon Worlds on Quest virtual reality headsets, announcing that the platform will continue to operate “for the foreseeable future” after fans voiced their support. The announcement comes just a day after Meta initially said it would remove the VR platform from the Quest Store at the end of the month and fully retire it from headsets by June 15.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth confirmed the change in an Instagram Q&A, stating that existing games built with the Horizon Unity engine will remain accessible in VR, although no new titles will be added to the virtual world. “We have decided, just today in fact, that we will keep Horizon Worlds working in VR for existing games to support the fans who’ve reached out,” Bosworth said. He noted that most of Meta’s development efforts are now focused on the Horizon Engine mobile app, which delivers smoother performance, sharper visuals, and the ability to host larger audiences.

Originally launched in 2021, Horizon Worlds never achieved mainstream traction, with monthly active users remaining in the hundreds of thousands, far below competitors like Roblox, which reports over 100 million daily active users. Meta had introduced the Horizon Engine in 2023 for its mobile app, aiming to improve game performance and expand the platform’s reach. Despite limited adoption, Horizon Worlds has remained a key component of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse, a project that has cost the company tens of billions of dollars.

Meta confirmed the VR rollback in an email to CNBC, emphasizing that while new games will focus on mobile, fans of the existing VR worlds will continue to have access. The move highlights the company’s responsiveness to user feedback and its ongoing effort to balance the metaverse strategy with market realities.