Hi everyone,
I am a PhD student researching the effects of the Meta Horizon Worlds closure/shift towards mobile.
If anyone would be interested in sharing their experiences on the platforms, as well as transitioning toward other social VR platforms through a short interview/chat (could be video, audio, or text based) please leave a comment or DM me. Thanks in advance!
I understand that Meta has its own economic reasons and market dynamics for shutting down some parts of Worlds and making it mainly available as a mobile app, while leaving only old worlds accessible on the VR platform.
What I do not understand, however, is how they are managing it these days.
For some time now, Horizon Central has no longer been functioning properly and is already showing signs of its upcoming closure to the public. In Central, in fact, it is no longer possible to talk with other people because everyone is muted.
Instead of preventing the many people who still visit Horizon Central every day from talking to each other, Meta could simply place a notice explaining that, in a few days, Worlds will mainly be accessible from mobile devices, that only some worlds will remain available in VR, and that Horizon Central itself will no longer be available.
It would be a respectful gesture toward the many users who are attached to this platform and who will genuinely miss it.