Meta’s Horizon Worlds virtual reality network, currently the heart of its Metaverse endeavour, is suffering from bugs and isn’t being used very much by the staff building it, new internal documents show.
In a Sept. 15 memo to staff obtained by The Verge, Vishal Shah, Metaverse vice president at Meta, said the team will remain in “quality lockdown” for the remainder of 2022 to “ensure we address our quality gaps and Fix performance issues beforehand. We’re opening up Horizon to more users.”
Horizon Worlds is a free virtual reality online video game that allows users to interact with legless avatars that they can create. It was first released on December 9, 2021 in the United States and Canada to people over the age of 18.
Meta’s Horizon Worlds virtual reality network, currently the heart of its Metaverse endeavour, is suffering from bugs and isn’t being used very much by the staff building it, new internal documents show
In a Sept. 15 memo to staff received by The Verge, Metaverse vice president Vishal Shah said the team would remain in “quality lockdown” for the remainder of 2022
The virtual network has since rolled out to Quest users in several other countries, including France, Spain, Ireland and the UK, reaching 300,000 users.
The network is also coming soon to mobile and desktop via a web version.
It’s a big part of Meta’s efforts to essentially build the next version of social media, which Mark Zuckerberg’s company has already spent more than $10 billion on.
“Since launching late last year, we’ve seen that the core thesis of Horizon Worlds — a synchronous social network where developers can build engaging worlds — is strong,” Shah wrote in the memo.
“But the current feedback from our creators, users, playtesters, and many of us on the team is that the combined weight of paper cuts, stability issues, and bugs are making it too difficult for our community to experience the magic of Horizon.
“Put simply, for an experience to be enjoyable and sustainable, it must first be usable and well designed.”
What is the metaverse?
The “Metaverse” is a series of virtual spaces where you can play, work, and communicate with others who are not in the same physical space as you.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg was a leading voice for the concept, which is seen as the future of the internet and would blur the lines between the physical and the digital.
“You can hang out with friends, work, play, study, shop, be creative, and more,” says Meta.
“It’s not necessarily about spending more time online — it’s about making the time you spend online more meaningful.”
While Meta is in charge of the Metaverse, it stated that it is not a single product that a company can build.
“Just like the internet, the Metaverse exists regardless of whether Facebook is there or not,” it added.
“And it’s not built overnight. Many of these products will only be fully realized in the next 10-15 years.’
In a follow-up memo dated Sept. 30, according to The Verge, Shah said employees were still not using Horizon enough and wrote that a plan was being drawn up to “hold managers accountable” for letting their teams use Horizon use at least once a week.
“Everyone in this organization should make it their mission to fall in love with Horizon Worlds. You can’t do that without using it. come in there Organize times to do it with your colleagues or friends in both internal builds and public builds so you can interact with our community.’
Shah has also reportedly addressed specific issues with Horizon, writing that “our user onboarding experience is confusing and frustrating” and that the team “needs to introduce new users to world-class worlds that will ensure their first visit is a success.”
It seems like the teams working on Horizon Worlds cut their work out for them, at least according to Shah’s memo.
“Today we don’t work flexibly enough,” says his memo. “I want to be clear on this point. We are working on a product that is not suitable for the product market. When you are on Horizon you must fully embrace ambiguity and change.’
The internal documents come at a time when several tech executives are publicly retiring from the Metaverse.
Apple CEO Tim Cook believes that most consumers cannot even define what the metaverse is and dismissed the notion that they would spend their entire lives in a virtual world.
“I always think it’s important that people understand what something is,” Cook told Dutch publication Bright, according to a Google translation. “And I’m not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is.”
Cook also expressed skepticism that people will want to spend longer periods of time in VR in the future. ‘[VR is] something to really immerse yourself in. And you can put that to good use.”
Zuckerberg was ridiculed in August when he revealed his own Horizon Worlds avatar, which was branded amateurish and odd-looking.
Shortly after, the mogul posted a more polished-looking avatar and said he would be presenting “major updates to Horizon and avatar graphics” at the company’s annual conference on Oct. 11.
Horizon Worlds is a free virtual reality online video game that allows users to interact with legless avatars that they can create. It was first released on December 9, 2021 in the United States and Canada to people over the age of 18
“Everyone in this organization should make it their mission to fall in love with Horizon Worlds. You can’t do that without using it. come in there Organize times to do it with your colleagues or friends in both internal builds and public builds so you can interact with our community.