After Two Years Of Hiding, Meta Finally Makes Horizon Worlds Available To The Public

Meta Platform Inc., launches the metaverse virtual reality application Horizon Worlds. (photo: doc. Meta)

JAKARTA - Metaverse virtual reality (VR) application Horizon Worlds, which was previously in private beta, is finally open to the public after two years of being launched by the US-based company.

With the public beta of Horizon Worlds available to the public, Meta wanted to build a new social app that bridges VR, AR, computers, and phones. For now, Horizon Worlds is a free VR-centric experience that requires a Quest 2 headset to use.

Much like a virtual office space focused on the workplace, Horizon Workrooms uses Meta cartoon-like VR avatars to interact. Unfortunately, the release of its public access software is limited to the United States (US) and Canada only. It is not known for sure if this will be rolled out globally.

Horizon Worlds is an access to a shared digital world, and it's a massive development for the enterprise platform. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last October said he would bring AR and VR to the public, and now it's happening. He also emphasized that Horizon, to him, is the core of the current metaverse strategy.

Nevertheless, it is a significant change for the way people use the internet from now on, especially as it gives rise to new profiles for people to live, interact and play with.

The company's efforts have gone a bit further into its goals and brought a unique place for people to thrive. However, Meta has to prove how this new public space will be better managed than any other social VR app, or Facebook itself.

In addition to having to use a Quest 2 device to access Horizon Worlds, users must also be 18 years of age or older. Metaverse of Meta is free to access and requires no payment from its users.

This year's Metaverse is a competition for technology companies. Not only Meta, but Epic Games also presents Metaverse, Niantic with Fold AR, and other companies.