MARK Zuckerberg’s virtual metaverse world Horizon now has 300,000 monthly users.
It’s a social space that users can socialise in – a bit like Facebook, but in virtual reality.
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Players appear as virtual avatars that they themselves have designed.
And they can speak to friends and strangers, play games and explore strange virtual locations.
Currently the social app is only available through the Meta Quest headset.
It was formerly called the Oculus Quest, but was rebranded when Facebook changed its parent company name to Meta.
Meta’s Horizon Worlds only began rolling out properly in early December.
Since then, its user-base has grown by ten times, according to Meta.
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Horizon Worlds players can create their own virtual worlds, just like in Minecraft or Roblox.
And Meta says that there over 10,000 of these worlds have been created.
VR, augmented reality and the “metaverse” – a potentially infinite virtual world – are huge areas of investment for Facebook.
Facebook is investing billions of dollars into building the metaverse.
The company recently announced plans to hire an additional 10,000 staff to work on the metaverse.
“This isn’t about spending more times in screens. It’s about making the time we already spend better,” said Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg late last year.
“The next version of the internet can.”
Speaking to journalists including The Sun in 2021, Facebook VR boss Andrew Bosworth described the company’s bold vision.
“The metaverse is a set of virtual 3D spaces where you can share immersive experiences with each other when you can’t be together,” Bosworth explained.
“What comes after the internet? Instead of looking at a screen, you get to be in the experiences.
“You don’t have to experience it in VR. Most people initially will experience it on screens they already have.”
He described it as “the next generation of the internet”.
The Sun previously revealed how you’ll soon be able to live in virtual Facebook houses – an early stage of the metaverse.
It’s unclear how many Meta Quest headlines have been sold to date, but it’s estimated at north of 10million.
To join the Horizon Worlds, you’ll need a Meta Quest headset, which costs $299/£299.
Read our Meta Quest 2 review here.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
