Will Meta's Plan to Attract Children to "Horizon Worlds" Platform Succeed?
Over the past few years, Meta's journey has been nothing short of tumultuous. As one of the earliest big tech companies to establish itself as a virtual reality powerhouse, Meta's decision to prioritize VR has been the subject of much speculation. Many argue that this move came too early, and the company's volatile stock prices and underwhelming user engagement with their VR platform, Horizon Worlds, seem to validate this claim. However, Meta has recently announced a comprehensive revamp of Horizon Worlds, in what could be seen as a last-ditch effort to salvage their investment in the product. Let's explore what this revamp entails.
Meta's latest plan for Horizon Worlds involves a shift in their target demographic towards a younger audience. Previously, Meta had heavily promoted their open-source world creation feature as the primary selling point of the platform. They envisioned a user-generated world where creativity could flourish, and the masses could build as many worlds as they wanted. The idea was to create a platform that would grow organically with user-generated content. However, this approach did not quite yield the results Meta had expected.
Earlier this year, Meta announced a major shift in their strategy, opting to enlist established video game designers and design studios to develop professional worlds for Horizon Worlds. It had become clear that relying on the average VR user for technical world development was not sustainable, and turning to professionals was a necessary adjustment. This approach has already shown promising result, as demonstrated by the success of their recent partnership with the NBA to create the NBA Arena world.
Currently, Horizon Worlds only allows users aged 18 and above. However, with their new direction, Meta intends to expand their user base to include children between the ages of 13 and 17. Although some may find the prospect a bit premature (pun intended), Meta has provided reasoning (albeit a bit jarring) behind this move. They argue that this generation has grown up with the internet and is accustomed to technologies like virtual reality, making them uniquely qualified to utilize this platform in a productive manner. Meta also recognizes that the younger generation is highly impressionable, and acknowledges that by capturing the engagement of younger users, they can build a loyal and lasting user base.
Despite some technical issues that surfaced late last year, one of the primary factors impeding user retention on Horizon Worlds is its requirement for a VR headset. According to g2, there are only 171 million VR headset owners worldwide, and that number drops to 70 million when focusing solely on the US. As a result, Meta recognizes that they must release a 2D version of Horizon Worlds that can run on desktop computers and mobile devices. This marks a major strategic move for Meta as they look to expand their reach and appeal to a broader, I mean younger, audience. The lizard man himself, Mark Zuckerberg, addressed this issue in Meta’s 4th quarter earnings call last year saying:
“Even though most of our reality labs investment is going towards future computing platforms: glasses, headsets, and the software to run them, as the technology develops, most people are going to experience the Metaverse for the first time on phones, then start building out their virtual identities across our apps.”
At the end of the day, Horizon Worlds is the cornerstone of Meta's vision for the future. This should come as no surprise, given their notable name change from Facebook to Meta in October 2021. Meta is fully invested in this idea that our world is transitioning towards a completely virtual landscape. They believe that communication will soon completely rely on devices, with almost no emphasis on reality. Horizon Worlds is Meta's flagship product and it represents their first major venture into this new era. Given the previous setbacks they encountered with their initial Metaverse attempt, it will be critical that they execute their current strategy with precision if they want to succeed this time around.
On the other hand, there are many who strongly oppose this vision. Some believe that the reason why Meta's stock has been so volatile recently is because people are not ready to abandon face-to-face communication. Particularly, those on the right side of the political aisle with an affinity for technology have expressed deep concerns about Meta's intentions. They fear that virtual communication poses a threat to free speech and independent thinking, viewing the complete virtualization of communication as a potential invasion of what is left of privacy.
Given these opposing viewpoints, it remains to be seen whether the Metaverse will truly become the future of communication and relationships, or whether it will prove to be the Meta-phorical nail in the coffin for Meta (pun intended x2). We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.