Facebook parent Meta's social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 users

Meta's social virtual reality (VR) platform Horizon has reached 300,000 monthly users, a growth of 10 times since its roll-out in early December.

According to a report in The Verge, Meta spokesperson Joe Osborne confirmed this, saying it included users of Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues which is a separate app for attending live events in VR.

Horizon Worlds was rolled out to Oculus Quest VR headset users in the US and Canada in early December.

"It's time. 10,000 worlds have already been created. Drop in and play, build or just hang out. The possibilities are endless," Horizon Worlds posted in a tweet.

Horizon Worlds was recently featured in Meta's Super Bowl ad, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called it "core to our metaverse vision".

During a virtual meeting with employees this week, he called them "Metamates".

VR and Quest are key parts of the company's metaverse vision, but it sees the metaverse as an interconnected digital world, one that bridges VR and AR, in addition to more familiar platforms like phone and computer.

"Rolling out avatars across our platforms is an early step towards making this a reality. We hope your new virtual self enables you to be represented online the way you want - whether that's to friends and family, your local community or beyond," said Meta.

The company has also announced 'Personal Boundary' for Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues.

'Personal Boundary' prevents avatars from coming within a set distance of each other, creating more personal space for people and making it easier to avoid unwanted interactions.

'Personal Boundary' will by default make it feel like there is an almost 4-foot distance between your avatar and others.

--IANS

na/