Users of Meta’s VR platform Horizon Worlds have learned that they can no longer create dedicated events, with many in the community furious. The news came during Horizon Worlds’ v109 update notes earlier this week.
In the update, Meta said it had “taken time to revisit some legacy features that aren’t quite living up to our renewed quality standards,” adding that it had “made the difficult decision to discontinue the event creation tool in Worlds.”
As of the announcement, May 9, Horizon Worlds users were suddenly and without warning unable to create their own events. However, any existing events already been created and scheduled to occur after May 9 could still go ahead.
Also read: Meta’s Savage Cuts Propel Zuckerberg’s Wealth to $87 Billion
No more events
Horizon Worlds events were originally envisioned as a way for users to craft their own experiences in the VR world. Experiences which they could advertise and use to invite other users into their world.
Meta’s live event app Horizon Venues was folded into Horizon Worlds a year ago, but clearly things haven’t worked out as planned. According to Meta, “the current event system is not meeting the needs of our community.”
Previously-hosted events in Horizon Worlds have included live sports events, music concerts, stand-up comedy performances, and other individual- or community-organized get-togethers.
While ordinary users won’t be able to create and organize their own events, it’s unclear whether major stars will get the same treatment. Meta previously sponsored performances from the likes of Foo Fighters, Post Malone and Carrie Underwood, which generated plenty of headlines.
The loss of events creation is the latest bump in the road for Horizon Worlds which has struggled to retain users from day one. Even Meta employees have shunned the VR social network due to problems with quality.
Users aren’t happy
Tuesday’s announcement has been met with anger from the community. “How can you be so stupid as to remove a community feature from a platform that lacks users without having a direct replacement ready?” asked Blizado on Twitter. “Apparently Meta would rather lose users than gain users with a better replacement.”
“They should just shut down Horizon Worlds entirely and focus on gaming and Workrooms,” said another user. “Bring back Venues and host more fully immersive events. Come on Meta, sort it out!”
Many will be surprised that Meta, with all its financial resources and manpower, elected to shut down the event creation tool rather than attempt to improve it. Instead, the update included ‘Quality of Life’ improvements whereby users are now given the option to add pronouns to their profile.
Meta recently announced that Horizon Worlds would be opening to users aged 13-17 in the US and Canada, with the promise that a robust set of age-appropriate protections would be put in place. The Center for Countering Digital Hate, however, has called Horizon Worlds “a toxic and unsafe environment for children.”
and then