The Meta Metaverse: What is the company working on?

Oculus VR headsets are needed: Meta is betting on virtual reality as being the future of the metaverse, so all metaverse projects currently being worked on by the company are based on their Oculus VR headsets. If you wanna check the top 3 projects and others that Meta is working on, you’ll definitely need a headset.

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s metaverse social media: In beta testing phase in the US and Canada, users need to create and customize their avatars, virtual-reality versions of themselves, to interact with other users in the platform. From then on, it’s mostly social media as usual - there are communities, social meetups, games, activities, posts to like and share and more. Users can also create separate servers, called “worlds,” where they can customize the environment, generate activities and invite friends to join them. Reviews are mostly negative due to mal-intended players ruining the fun for others.

Horizon Venues, real-life events meet VR: Looks essentially the same as Horizon Worlds, but with the goal of mixing real-world events with Meta’s VR ecosystem. Also in beta phase in the US and Canada, users are able to pay for concerts, movie premieres, NBA games, the list goes on - as long as those events have support for virtual reality tickets, Horizon Venues is likely included. Reviews are also mostly negative because of poor filtering, where users who aren’t in your social circle share the same environments as you and that can make experiences quite unpleasant.

Rec Room, the clear winner: Available everywhere, Rec Room is Horizon Worlds if it was focused on gaming. Here, successful social media posts are actually successful games created by users that you can join or create your own private room. Players are free to create and customize their own environments, and it provides cross-play accessibility to smartphones. Reviews here are overwhelmingly positive.


For a full week in October of 2021, the word “metaverse” became one of the main topics of discussion all over the world, coupled with Facebook. That’s because, at the time, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be changing its name to “Meta”, in order to focus on “building the metaverse” - a term that makes reference to the concept of digital worlds with real-world properties and values in its economy, citizens and activities.

Ever since then, not much has been heard from Meta or its metaverse projects around mainstream media. The company did release a few miscellaneous ads about their projects on social media, but they made people more confused than clarified their future plans.
So what exactly is Meta working on, when it comes to the so-promise of a metaverse? In this article, we’ll discuss the main projects currently at play for the Meta metaverse and how they are actually being perceived by users.

Everything revolves around Oculus VR headsets

---

Different companies have different views on what the metaverse should look like from a functionality perspective. In Meta’s case, it all revolves around Virtual Reality. More specifically, Meta’s Oculus headset products.

In order to experience any of the metaverse products Meta is currently working on, there is no way around it; enthusiasts will have to put on an Oculus headset to explore Meta’s vision. With its own app store like Apple, Google and Steam’s, Oculus currently accounts for thousands of games and applications - from productivity to fitness, horror and adapted versions of popular apps like Netflix and YouTube.
However, Meta’s actual metaverse vision currently lies on a core group of three main apps.

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s metaverse social media

---

Horizon Worlds is Meta’s main metaverse project. Source: Meta

Currently under testing phase in the United States and Canada alone, Horizon Worlds is Meta’s vision on what a metaverse social media looks like. Linked to users’ Facebook accounts, visitors of Horizon Worlds can do way more activities than the traditional Facebook social media - plus in a novel VR environment.

Here, users need to create and customize their avatars, virtual-reality versions of themselves, to interact with other users in the platform. From then on, it’s mostly a social media as usual - there are communities, social meet ups, games, activities, posts to like and share and more.

What sets Horizon Worlds apart from say, Facebook and Instagram, is in its world-building capabilities. Users can create separate servers, called “worlds,” where they can customize the environment, generate activities and invite friends to join them. Think Facebook groups, but with a fully-customizable 3D environment tailored to your needs.

It’s important to note, however, that not only is Horizon Worlds in the testing phase but the reviews are actually overwhelmingly negative. The main issue, apparently, is that adults and kids are mingled together across the virtual database - which creates some concerning moments, either for safety reasons or when kids and teenagers just want to poke fun at the platform at the serious users’ expenses. Either way, the project is certainly a few years away from conclusion and might lead to something far more robust and interesting in the future.

Horizon Venues, real-life events meet VR

---

Next up on Meta’s list of projects we have Horizon Venues, which looks essentially the same as Horizon Worlds, but with the goal of mixing real world events with Meta’s VR ecosystem. Also in beta phase, users are able to pay for concerts, movie premieres, NBA games, the list goes on - as long as those events have support for virtual reality tickets, Horizon Venues is likely included.

Meta is also known for releasing some exclusive content for Venues users, such as a Foo Fighters chat room with the band members after a concert they had back in February of this year. After the real-world event, with VR support, the band joined Venues users with their own custom avatars and chatted about a range of topics as if they were eye-to-eye with all the room members.

With this project, Meta seeks to create stronger proximity between real-world events and the metaverse, so people can enjoy different forms of entertainment wherever they are. However, much like Horizon Worlds, Horizon Venues reviews are mostly negative due to the mixture between people who wanna take the platform seriously and those just looking to mess around. The apps are clearly lacking filters, but surely that will be worked out once way more people and Facebook friends join the platforms.

Rec Room, the clear winner

---

Turn Horizon Worlds into a gaming-centered social media and you essentially have Rec Room, Meta’s most successful metaverse application - which is also in a testing phase but available worldwide, contrary to Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues.

The reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and rightfully so. Since it’s a platform based on private game rooms, there’s no noise or unwanted visits from annoying users, plus the games are entirely customizable and tailored to each player’s wanted experience. It’s a full-on social media for games: people create their game environments with the option to share throughout the platform, get upvotes for it and the most popular games are shown in users’ feeds.

Rec Room is also free and available to cross-play on smartphones, so it’s a win-win situation for anyone who wants to get involved. So far in Meta’s metaverse projects, Rec Room is the clear winner when it comes to creating fun, customizable entertainment for anyone who seeks to join.



Author: Gate.io Researcher: Victor Bastos
* This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.