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Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

engadget.com

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Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#61

Post by drivebyhooting »

It is really amazing how bloated the reality labs division is. Triple layers of directors and VPs. They have been running this grift for years.

When interacting with them I was left wondering whether they were delusional.

But the explanation is simpler: they were just lying through their teeth to empire build.

Can you believe they even built their own game engine to replace Unity? So may layers of principal engineers, directors, etc. I’m sure it will be cancelled if it hasn’t been already.

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#62

Post by deltoidmaximus »

fullshark wrote: post #45
anonymousab wrote: post #44

I am still surprised that they thought they'd see success with the extremely low quality version they shipped at launch. Just awful models and missing features along with a completely lackluster and shallow vision for what any sort of VR world could be. Like, how did Zuck look at what was being demoed and think "yes, this is worth shipping" at a time when the closest analogue, 3D games and CG movies, were delivering…

Cause he doesn't actually want to spend time in a VR world, and has no idea what a good or bad one would be. He just was hoping it was the next smartphone and he'd own the platform.

We've all forgotten the facebook phone failure but I doubt Mark has. He wants control further up the stack. Breaking into OSes is very hard but if you squinted just right VR kind of sort of looked like a green field that was ripe for the taking.

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#63

Post by [deleted] »

randycupertino wrote: post #53
stephc_int13 wrote: post #6

This one should be studied in management schools. I'm not sure I have ever witnessed such a comprehensive industrial failure in the software world. There were some discussions about Facebook's ability to pull it off, but not that long ago, many still saw the "metaverse" vision as inevitable; a clear trajectory for the future of the internet. And the failure isn't Zuckerberg's alone. Microsoft, Apple, and a good many…

Zuck and Co just completely failed to read the room. Horizons didn't fail because the technology wasn't ready - it failed because nobody actually wanted the product. It didn't solve any problem and added a ton of friction (headsets, eye goggles, no legs, etc). The headsets were uncomfortable and isolating. The vibes were creepy and weird. The rolled it out like a cheesy corporate team-building mandatory exercise, not…

[deleted]

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#64

Post by alex1138 »

jitl wrote: post #58
alex1138 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it possible all this was a major ploy to get around antitrust? I'm aware FB has been working on VR for a while even beyond the Oculus that they purchased but it's like... "Facebook bought Whatsapp, yes, but; we're Meta "

the rename came at a nadir of "Facebook" brand when there was lots of hate for misinfo, genocide incitement on the platform, etc. I think that's the more important context rather than "lol i bet we'll fool the antitrust guys w/ a quick name change"

Yeah fair enough, it was a dumb comment

Still, the rename to Meta was a cynical ploy regardless

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#66

Post by lyu07282 »

geophph wrote: post #11

Genuine question - was it the product or the implementation that led this to not pan out? Maybe both?

I think it was both the horrible technical implementation and the full and total control they demanded over it. It's like what I would imagine the Oasis to look like ten years after the bad guys won in Ready Player One.

The internet only succeeded because it was so free and open at the beginning, decentralized, open protocols, everything free, no borders, no censorship, no surveillance just hackers that layed the foundation with no restrictions placed upon them (except the severe technical limitations of the time for them to overcome). Of course that's almost all gone now with capitalism taking over turning everything to shit, but that came only after it already was successful.

Meta's vision and implementation of the metaverse was exactly the opposite end of the spectrum in every way from the start: centralized, commercial, proprietary, censored, surveilled, restricted, closed, walls everywhere, safe, advertiser friendly, it was uncool, not fun and no style. Like they paid people to create shitty "worlds" and force their employees to use it, otherwise nobody touched that shitshow willingly, except (concerningly) for some random toddlers for some reason.

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#67

Post by Keyframe »

cheeze wrote: post #56
smileybarry wrote: post #50

It's funny that Horizon Worlds will shut down before its actual launch here. Meta Quest headsets are sold here but the Horizon Worlds part of the OS was entirely blocked off. (The mobile app shows it, but I could never get the headset to navigate anywhere , just stuck in the homeworld lobby)

What is "here" in this context?

Metaverse, of course. Same here.

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#68

Post by Karuma »

randycupertino wrote: post #53
stephc_int13 wrote: post #6

This one should be studied in management schools. I'm not sure I have ever witnessed such a comprehensive industrial failure in the software world. There were some discussions about Facebook's ability to pull it off, but not that long ago, many still saw the "metaverse" vision as inevitable; a clear trajectory for the future of the internet. And the failure isn't Zuckerberg's alone. Microsoft, Apple, and a good many…

Zuck and Co just completely failed to read the room. Horizons didn't fail because the technology wasn't ready - it failed because nobody actually wanted the product. It didn't solve any problem and added a ton of friction (headsets, eye goggles, no legs, etc). The headsets were uncomfortable and isolating. The vibes were creepy and weird. The rolled it out like a cheesy corporate team-building mandatory exercise, not…

[flagged]

Re: Meta will shut down VR Horizon Worlds access June 15

#70

Post by estimator7292 »

stephc_int13 wrote: post #6

This one should be studied in management schools. I'm not sure I have ever witnessed such a comprehensive industrial failure in the software world. There were some discussions about Facebook's ability to pull it off, but not that long ago, many still saw the "metaverse" vision as inevitable; a clear trajectory for the future of the internet. And the failure isn't Zuckerberg's alone. Microsoft, Apple, and a good many…

No, Microsoft bailed pretty early. Apple gave it one shot and gave up.

The entire VR/AR industry sort of crumpled up and died while metaverse was still burning a billion dollars a day.

I worked in a VR startup at the time. Nobody could find a customer and all the competing startups slowly bled to death (including mine). Everyone was really holding their breath that Apple Vision would bring some life back to the industry, but once it became clear that it was a flop, everyone gave up.

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