Meta published a blog post for developers wherein it lays out its new strategy for the Quest ecosystem and Horizon Worlds, taking the two in separate directions.
Titled ‘Our Renewed Focus in 2026’ and written by the VP of Content at Meta Reality Labs, Samantha Ryan, much of the post repeats what CTO Andrew Bosworth has already said in a series of public interviews and Instagram “ask me anything” sessions in recent weeks.
Meta CTO Explains Layoffs & Strategy Shift: “VR Is Growing Less Quickly Than We Hoped”
In a series of interviews at Davos, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth explained why the company is reducing its investment in VR.
The gist of Meta’s new VR and metaverse strategy, according to its executives, is that Horizon Worlds will become “almost exclusively mobile”, and the platform will no longer be pushed on Quest owners. Meanwhile, on the VR side, Meta will focus on funding and supporting the third-party developer ecosystem instead of putting out its own blockbuster VR games to compete with them.
Meta is removing individual Horizon Worlds destinations from the in-VR store on Quest, Ryan writes, and “separating worlds from the Store” in the smartphone app.
Last month, Meta also announced that Quest’s new ‘Navigator’ UI will soon become the default and the Horizon Feed will be removed, meaning the headset will boot to a grid of your installed apps. Some Quest owners on the Public Test Channel (PTC) have also received a refreshed Navigator that lacks the ‘Worlds’ button.
Quest’s New ‘Navigator’ UI Becoming Default As Horizon Feed To Be Removed
“Starting” in Quest v85, the new ‘Navigator’ UI is becoming the default, and the Horizon Feed will be “gradually” removed from Horizon OS.
The post also seems to take aim at the gloom and doom discourse around the future of the Quest platform that followed Meta’s shutdown of three of its acquired VR game studios, significant layoffs at a fourth, cancelation of the Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel, and deprecation of Horizon Workrooms and Quest headsets for business offering.
As well as noting that Meta has “a robust roadmap of future VR headsets”, echoing comments from the CFO and CTO, Ryan claims that VR “is still growing”, and that Quest had “a tremendous holiday season that was on par with our 2024 results”.
“Total payment volume on the platform remained similar year-over-year in 2025”, Ryan writes, also noting that Quest headset sales remain “far ahead of all competitors” while Meta remains “the single biggest investor in the VR industry”.
Quest 4 Is Still On The Roadmap, Meta CTO Seemingly Confirms
In an interview with Alex Heath, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth seemed to confirm the leak that a gaming-focused Quest 4 is still on the roadmap.
In what seems to be an attempt to reassure developers, Ryan claims Meta is “focused on supporting the third-party developer community” through “strategic partnerships and targeted investments”.
Last year multiple new VR games earned millions of dollars of revenue on the platform, Ryan claims, including UG, Hard Bullet and The Thrill of the Fight 2.
“While we’re proud of the world-class work from Oculus Studios over the years, among 1P and 3P apps, 86% of the effective time people spend in their VR headsets is with third-party apps”, Ryan notes.
Ryan also claims that in 2025 Meta invested “nearly $150 million in VR developer programs”.
Meta CTO: We’re Still Investing More In VR Content Than Anyone Else
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth claims that even after the cuts, the company is still investing more in VR content than anyone else, and more than it was 4 years ago.
Of course, words are cheap, and since acquiring Oculus almost twelve years ago, Meta’s VR strategy has constantly shifted under developers’ feet. Many will be weary of this instability, and UploadVR will keep a close eye on the Quest platform in the wake of Meta’s latest change of direction.
