Meta to Shut Down Workrooms, Minimize VR Studios and Employees
What’s the story?
Meta is retiring its standalone Horizon Workrooms app in Feb 2026 whereas reportedly shedding 1,500 Actuality Labs employees to prioritize AI and wearable expertise.
Why it issues
The lack of high-profile first-party studios might create a “content material winter” for Quest customers, because the groups chargeable for a number of the platform’s top-selling video games are disbanded.
The larger image
Meta is pivoting its sources from the metaverse to focus “nearly completely” on cellular and AI wearables, transferring away from the totally immersive VR imaginative and prescient established in 2021.
In Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality News
January 16, 2026 – Meta has not too long ago introduced it’ll discontinue its Meta Horizon Workrooms software and finish gross sales of its devoted enterprise {hardware} and providers. The updates come alongside stories of great personnel reductions and studio closures inside the firm’s Actuality Labs division.
Finish of Enterprise {Hardware} and Managed Providers
Based on an update from the Meta for Work weblog, the corporate will cease gross sales of Horizon managed providers (HMS) and business SKUs of Meta Quest on February 20, 2026. Meta acknowledged the change follows a shift in focus towards first-party client {hardware} and software program.
Nevertheless, current HMS prospects will nonetheless proceed to obtain help for Meta Quest 3 and 3S gadgets till January 4, 2030. Moreover, Meta indicated that HMS licenses will likely be obtainable freed from cost beginning February 20, 2026, through its official web site.
Meta Horizon Workrooms Discontinuation
In an extra blog post, Meta introduced that its Horizon Workrooms standalone app is scheduled to be discontinued on February 16, 2026. After this date, all related information will likely be deleted. The corporate famous that its Quest platform has developed to help varied third-party productiveness instruments similar to Microsoft Groups Immersive, Arthur, and Zoom Office, and urged customers discover using these instruments, which can be found by way of the Meta Horizon Retailer.
Reported Layoffs and Studio Closures
Studies from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal point out that Meta has begun shedding roughly 1,500 workers from Actuality Labs, representing roughly 10% of the division’s workforce.
Based on Bloomberg, an inside memo detailed the closure of three in-house VR improvement studios: Armature, the studio chargeable for the conversion of Resident Evil 4 to VR; Sanzaru Video games, which has shipped over 16 titles together with Asgard’s Wrath, Marvel Powers United VR; and Twisted Pixel, the studio behind the not too long ago launched Deadpool VR, amongst different video games. Moreover, VR health app Supernatural was additionally affected. Whereas the present product will proceed to be supported, there will likely be no further content material and options developed, the memo mentioned.
Meta Redirecting Sources to AI Wearables
A Meta spokesperson instructed Bloomberg that these actions are a part of a strategic shift of funding from the metaverse towards wearables. Based on Bloomberg, the corporate is reallocating sources towards AI-powered wearables and telephone options.
As a part of the restructuring, Meta’s Horizon efforts will pivot towards cellular gadgets. Chief Expertise Officer Andrew Bosworth reportedly acknowledged that the corporate is shifting sources “nearly completely to cellular” to speed up adoption.
Regardless of the reported closures, Meta continues to function 5 inside gaming studios. Bloomberg reported that in an inside memo, Tamara Sciamanna, Director of Oculus Studios, wrote: “Gaming stays the cornerstone of our ecosystem. With this variation we’re shifting our funding to concentrate on our third-party builders and companions to make sure long-term sustainability.”
Picture credit score: Meta
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix, the place he has spent years immersed within the XR ecosystem, monitoring its evolution from early prototypes to the applied sciences shaping the way forward for human expertise. Whereas primarily protecting the most recent AR and VR information, his pursuits lengthen to the broader world of human augmentation, from AI and robotics to haptics, wearables, and mind–laptop interfaces.
