Meta introduced in January it was engaged on a house theater setting for Horizon OS, which might let Quest customers view content material on a large display screen in a correct theater setting. Now, a leaked prototype of the setting reveals that it’s specializing in multiplayer too, making it look a bit like VR’s hottest shared viewing app, Bigscreen.
Quest already has just a few fragmented theater-style options, though no single first-party app that permits you to simply invite buddies to observe issues socially. Meta has made quite a few makes an attempt over time, however up to now nothing has actually caught.
Two months previous to leaving Meta although, Mark Rabkin, then-VP of Horizon OS and Quest, introduced his crew was engaged on the long-requested cinema setting, and experimenting with issues comparable to lighting, results and immersive sound.
On the time, it was unsure simply how far the corporate hoped to go to bridge the hole between the platform’s single-player ‘Theater View’ characteristic and its Horizon Worlds shared livestreams, which incorporates issues like live shows, comedy, and sports activities. We might have a partial reply to that now.
Now, X person ‘lukegotbored‘ (through ‘Luna‘) has reportedly “by chance” accessed a work-in-progress theater setting on Quest, suggesting Meta is replicating no less than a number of the performance of VR’s hottest social viewing app, Bigscreen.
My pal @lukegotbored accidently acquired entry to a different Meta inside construct.
Appears to be like like Meta is engaged on a digital theater setting, and it appears to constructed on prime of the upcoming Horizon Worlds/Dwelling ‘2.0’ overhaul, with the flexibility to ask customers and many others. That is nonetheless very WIP. https://t.co/957vpe4h9i pic.twitter.com/PwJKUBZCnH
— Luna (@Lunayian) July 1, 2025
Luna, who additionally not too long ago leaked Meta’s subsequent sensible glasses, suggests the characteristic might arrive in Horizon Worlds subsequent huge replace, noting that the multiplayer area means that you can invite different customers. Within the video, we see two customers switching by means of a number of seats in a sci-fi fashion auditorium and watching a Sizzling Ones interview.
It stays to be seen although whether or not Meta can truly replicate Bigscreen’s hottest characteristic. Bigscreen not solely permits you to socially watch a wide range of streaming channels from companies like Pluto TV, but additionally mirror your personal content material so different can watch too. Not less than for Meta, that final one could also be a little bit of a stretch.
Letting customers stream their very own content material at scale might elevate main authorized and technical challenges for Meta, particularly round content material licensing, which Bigscreen has navigated in some intelligent methods.
Notably, Bigscreen doesn’t actively stream unlicensed content material, though it additionally doesn’t precisely cease customers from doing so. You received’t discover a military of ghostly moderators shutting down hosted rooms like Meta does in Horizon Worlds, basically permitting customers to freely stream any film, TV present, or stay sports activities sport.
Bigscreen can do that as a result of it places the onus on the person person to adjust to content material legal guidelines, leaving its app basically within the clear—one thing Meta might not be so able to decide to.
And though there’s no telling how huge Meta’s theater will really be, providing that fundamental social viewing performance on prime of Horizon Worlds will undoubtedly be centered on boosting participant retention, as customers received’t want to put in an extra app, or go away Horizon Worlds to have watch events.
Granted, this wouldn’t be the primary time Meta replicated third-party app performance. Digital Desktop, created by Man Godin, helped pioneer PC-to-VR mirroring following its preliminary launch on Rift in 2016. A lot of its performance was step by step replicated by Meta over time, baking them into system-wide features on Rift.
What’s extra, in early 2021, Meta initially rejected Digital Desktop on Quest attributable to its included wi-fi streaming characteristic, which allowed customers play PC VR video games over WiFi. Weeks later, Meta reversed course and permitted it for the Horizon Retailer, however solely after releasing its personal model, Air Hyperlink.
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Meta’s subsequent huge occasion is Join 2025, which is about to kick off on September seventeenth, 2025, the place we might presumably be taught extra. We’ll have our eyes peeled for extra data within the meantime, so examine again quickly.
