Meta announces plans of integrating Horizon Venues event experience into its social virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds. Horizon World is a virtual reality social platform created by Meta, and currently has a separate app dedicated to attending live events in VR. As a result of the new integration by Meta, starting June 6, users can now attend live events directly within Horizon Worlds instead of having to use the standalone Venues app. The Horizon Venues app will henceforth be shut down.
According to a blog post on the announcement on integration, the company says that “You’ll be able to catch your favorite marquee shows, from live sporting events to concerts from today’s hit artists and beyond, then hit up a comedy club or meditation session or even host your own meet-up, all from within Horizon Worlds.” Meta confirms that it has experimented with portals between Horizon Venues and Horizon Worlds in recent times and has found out that the integration will bring a seamless jump experience between the two platforms.
Users who have access to Horizon Worlds on Quest 2 and are above the age of 18 in the US and Canada will have access to the Venues programming in the Horizon Worlds app starting June 6. Users who are not based in the United States or Canada, are under the age of 18, and/or are on Quest 1 will lose access to Venues programming when the standalone Venues app eventually gets shut down on June 6. Meta has stated that these users will have the ability to catch highlights and replays of Venues events via the Oculus TV.
In 2019, the Horizon Worlds opened up to all users above the age of 18 in the U.S. and in December 2021 the platform opened up in Canada after first being announced in 2019. Meta emphasizes its decision to begin to expand Horizon Worlds into more countries starting this summer.
A tweet by the company’s CTO, Andrew “Boz” Bosworth revealed that plans are in motion for the creation of a web version of Horizon Worlds. With the expansion into the web users, will now have the ability to try out Horizon Worlds without having to make use of the Quest VR headsets, which are currently the only way users can access the virtual world. Meta’s plans to launch web and mobile versions have been seen as a plan that would help get more people to join Horizon Worlds without having to use the Quest VR headset.
Recently Meta revealed its plans for a feature on Horizon World that will give creators the ability to sell virtual items and effects within their worlds. The new feature isn’t rolled out yet to the public, however, a small group of creators is already testing it. With all these plans coming together, Meta is starting to mark significant steps on its mission to build the foundation of virtual reality social networking as well as its near future ambitions of the Metaverse.
Olagoke Ajibola is a creative writer and content producer with an eye for details and excellence. He has a demonstrated history of telling stories for TV, Film and Online. Aside from being fascinated by the power of imagination, his other interest are travel, sport, reading and meeting people.
