{"id":300472,"date":"2026-01-24T01:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T01:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/300472\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T01:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T01:30:10","slug":"were-going-to-let-vr-be-what-it-is-meta-cto-andrew-bosworth-addresses-the-major-vr-layoffs-and-teases-a-new-direction-for-the-metaverse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/300472\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re going to let VR be what it is\u2019 Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth addresses the major VR layoffs \u2013 and teases a new direction for the metaverse"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul id=\"6d759c4e-0373-4dec-b158-454db2c9e104\">\n<li><strong>Meta finally addresses its VR layoffs<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Reality Labs CTO also explains its new focus on glasses<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8230; and suggested its metaverse has a new home on mobile<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"d0019f60-642e-42ad-a216-69365bcd1ade\">Meta Reality Labs\u2019 CTO Andrew Bosworth has spoken publicly about the recent <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\/virtual-reality-augmented-reality\/meta-just-killed-some-of-its-best-quest-3-game-studios-and-convinced-me-to-buy-a-steam-frame-instead-of-a-quest-4\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\/virtual-reality-augmented-reality\/meta-just-killed-some-of-its-best-quest-3-game-studios-and-convinced-me-to-buy-a-steam-frame-instead-of-a-quest-4\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">major VR layoffs <\/a>at the company, and it really does sound like Meta isn\u2019t fussed about VR anymore \u2013 but its metaverse sounds like a top priority still.<\/p>\n<p>While in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum, <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hLfbSqynSnw\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hLfbSqynSnw\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Axios interviewed Bosworth<\/a>, and almost instantly the discussion homed in on the major restructuring we\u2019ve all seen from Reality Labs, which caused the division to shut down multiple VR game studios.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"d0019f60-642e-42ad-a216-69365bcd1ade-2\">Bosworth explained that Meta\u2019s VR approach has been to build a space with something for everyone, but this \u201clack of focus comes at the expense of user experience and a great expense in terms of development cost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p>Meta Reality Labs\u2019 Andrew Bosworth &amp; Axios\u2019 Ina Fried &#8211; YouTube<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769218208_673_maxresdefault.jpg\" alt=\"Meta Reality Labs\u2019 Andrew Bosworth &amp; Axios\u2019 Ina Fried - YouTube\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"watch-on-youtube-hLfbSqynSnw\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hLfbSqynSnw\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hLfbSqynSnw\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"9cb404a3-33e7-4774-8418-9d162d36bb7f\">So Meta\u2019s new plan is, as Bosworth puts it, \u201cWe\u2019re going to let VR be what it is, what it does great. We\u2019re going to focus a lot more on the third-party content library, the ecosystem that\u2019s developed there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meta Reality Labs\u2019 CTO then goes on to argue that Reality Labs isn\u2019t downsizing. Instead, that investment is being shifted to focus on its glasses \u2013 the area it is seeing the most growth. This is consistent with previous comments Meta has made about its ongoing approach to Reality Labs\u2019 efforts.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-4b8a8347-9182-46ac-b1b0-610171892d60\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/>Something familiar on the Horizon?<\/p>\n<p id=\"879f388c-8d7b-4097-9a79-809d2831250e\">What\u2019s interesting is a part of Bosworth\u2019s answer I cut out above. After discussing Meta letting \u201cVR be what it is, what it does great,\u201d and how that means pushing third-party development, he then adds, \u201cand with Horizon we\u2019re focusing a lot more on mobile.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horizon is Meta\u2019s metaverse, and while it was initially envisioned for VR, it is also accessible on PC and mobile.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.26%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7j4D8z2VwTqyFvmc75azr.jpg\" alt=\"Three Roblox characters running towards the screen\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7j4D8z2VwTqyFvmc75azr.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7j4D8z2VwTqyFvmc75azr.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: Roblox Corporation)<\/p>\n<p id=\"9577117b-ec2c-4966-b75d-edcac14a595b\">Interestingly, it also serves as Meta\u2019s closest rival to one of its biggest social media rivals. I\u2019m not talking about TikTok, I\u2019m talking about <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/features\/roblox-is-using-the-metaverse-and-ai-to-make-creating-games-accessible\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/features\/roblox-is-using-the-metaverse-and-ai-to-make-creating-games-accessible\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Roblox<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ask anyone under the age of 12 about this gaming platform, and you won\u2019t be able to get a word in edgewise for about an hour. It\u2019s this massive online gaming platform which, just like Horizon Worlds, offers a large amount of constantly evolving user-created spaces to explore and play in.<\/p>\n<p>Both platforms have also, in recent years, seen a rise in sponsored and branded collaborations, as well as hosting major concerts and live events which take place in the virtual worlds.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p>To that end, they aren\u2019t just games; they are a very interactive and adaptable form of social media that doesn\u2019t simply chase fads \u2013 it spawns them. Though, as you might imagine, Roblox has a much bigger user base than Horizon based on available figures.<\/p>\n<p>That said, with a shift to a more mobile-heavy focus as Bosworth discussed \u2013 the gaming platform most accessible to younger users who might not be trusted with a PC or VR headset \u2013 Meta is perhaps hoping to shorten the divide between it and Roblox.<\/p>\n<p>Given the lackluster response to Horizon in VR, it&#8217;s yet to be seen if these efforts will prove more successful in the mobile sphere, but at least VR fans can appreciate the silver lining that Horizon might not be pushed so heavily in VR going forward \u2013 and <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\/virtual-reality-augmented-reality\/they-are-starting-to-realize-no-one-wants-horizon-integration-meta-announces-a-major-quest-3-change-but-is-it-a-blessing-or-a-curse-in-disguise\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.techradar.com\/computing\/virtual-reality-augmented-reality\/they-are-starting-to-realize-no-one-wants-horizon-integration-meta-announces-a-major-quest-3-change-but-is-it-a-blessing-or-a-curse-in-disguise\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">an upcoming update looks to confirm just that<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"6b60cd2a-173e-45a7-9351-0e8251f4693d\"><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJsWTJoeVlXUmhjaTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?hl=en-GB&amp;gl=GB&amp;ceid=GB%3Aen\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>Follow TechRadar on Google News<\/strong><\/a> and <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=techradar.com\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>add us as a preferred source<\/strong><\/a> to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!<\/p>\n<p>And of course you can also <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@techradar\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>follow TechRadar on TikTok<\/strong><\/a> for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Va6HybZ9RZAY7pIUK12h\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><strong>WhatsApp<\/strong><\/a> too.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-baad7d33-ba79-44d2-a746-a24b51a3a0e1\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s best Meta Quest 3 512GB deals<\/p>\n<p><a data-google-interstitial=\"false\" aria-label=\"View Meta Quest 3 512GB on Meta\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tkqlhce.com\/click-6361382-15639798?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.com%2Fquest%2Fquest-3%2F&amp;cjsku=899-00583-01&amp;sid=trd-us-7885283002420970071\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" class=\"hawk-affiliate-link-container\" data-product-key=\"408869-899-00583-01\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tkqlhce.com\/click-6361382-15639798?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.com%2Fquest%2Fquest-3%2F&amp;cjsku=899-00583-01&amp;sid=trd-us-7885283002420970071\" data-model-id=\"993382\" data-match-id=\"805481217\" data-product-type=\"1000\" data-link-merchant=\"Meta\" data-merchant-id=\"543744\" data-merchant-name=\"Meta\" data-merchant-url=\"http:\/\/www.meta.com\" rel=\"sponsored noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"link\" tabindex=\"0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/5beimfchevzpiwda-16978291797889-100-80.jpg.webp.webp\" alt=\"Meta Quest 3 512GB\" title=\"Meta Quest 3 512GB\" class=\"hawk-lazy-image-product-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"78\" height=\"70\"\/><\/a><a data-google-interstitial=\"false\" aria-label=\"View Meta Quest 3 512GB on Meta\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tkqlhce.com\/click-6361382-15639798?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.com%2Fquest%2Fquest-3%2F&amp;cjsku=899-00583-01&amp;sid=trd-us-7885283002420970071\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" class=\"hawk-affiliate-link-container\" data-product-key=\"408869-899-00583-01\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tkqlhce.com\/click-6361382-15639798?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmeta.com%2Fquest%2Fquest-3%2F&amp;cjsku=899-00583-01&amp;sid=trd-us-7885283002420970071\" data-model-id=\"993382\" data-match-id=\"805481217\" data-product-type=\"1000\" data-link-merchant=\"Meta\" data-merchant-id=\"543744\" data-merchant-name=\"Meta\" data-merchant-url=\"http:\/\/www.meta.com\" rel=\"sponsored noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" role=\"link\" tabindex=\"0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/hhrryvex4qczqg4v-17321805663786-100-80.jpg.webp.webp\" alt=\"Meta\" title=\"Meta\" class=\"hawk-lazy-image-logo-image\" draggable=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"80\" height=\"40\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meta finally addresses its VR layoffs The Reality Labs CTO also explains its new focus on glasses &#8230;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[18,19,17,82,286,287,288],"class_list":{"0":"post-300472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtual-reality","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-virtual-reality","13":"tag-virtualreality","14":"tag-vr"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115947492103705121","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}