Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, Meta’s CTO, said in a tweet that the company is working on a web version of its social virtual reality Horizon Worlds platform. Horizon Worlds would be accessible to users without the requirement for Quest VR goggles, which are now the sole way to enter the virtual world.
Bosworth’s tweet on the platform’s web version was part of a larger thread justifying Meta’s 47.5 per cent share of Horizon Worlds purchases. A 30 per cent platform charge for purchases made through Meta’s Quest Store is included in the 47.5 per cent number. Bosworth said on Twitter that when the web version of Horizon Worlds opens, the cost for sales would be 25%, avoiding the Quest Store’s 30% cut. As stated by him, this is “a suggestively lower rate when associated to other existing world-building platforms.”
This means that if you buy a digital item in Horizon Worlds’ online edition, the designer you are buying from will get a larger part of the auction than if you purchase the similar item in the VR type.
In a tweet, Bosworth stated, “We are making good on our vow to ensure that developers have a path to true financial success on our platform.” “We will continue to work closely with our artists and engineers to help them make considerable money,” the company promises.
Bosworth did not offer much more about the virtual world’s web version, including how it would function or when it may be published. The announcement comes only days after The Verge revealed that Meta is working on delivering Horizon Worlds to mobile phones later this year.
Meta’s ambitions to release online and mobile versions of its virtual world might be viewed as a means for the firm to attract more people to Horizon Worlds by removing the requirement for a Quest VR headset. However, there is also the question of whether a web and mobile version of the platform will undermine Meta’s metaverse objective. It is unclear how a web and mobile version of Horizon Worlds would fit into Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s concept of the metaverse as a “successor to the mobile internet,” here you would be able to do things that you could not do in the real world.
Bosworth’s comments come just days after Meta revealed that it is working on a feature that would allow artists to sell virtual goods and effects in their virtual worlds. To begin, the new function is being sent out to a small group of artists, and it marks a significant step forward in the company’s goal of laying the basis for virtual reality social networking. Everyone who has access to Horizon Worlds will be able to make these in-world purchases. For gamers in the United States, Meta is also experimenting with a Horizon Worlds Creator Bonus programme.
After being revealed in 2019, Horizon Worlds became available to all users over the age of 18 in the United States and Canada in December 2021.
