Meta has put its plans to expand Horizon OS beyond its own hardware on hold, marking a shift in its mixed reality strategy.
The company confirmed that it has paused the program to license Meta Horizon OS, the operating system used in Quest headsets, to third party device manufacturers. The initiative was originally part of Meta’s broader metaverse push to create a wider ecosystem of compatible VR hardware.
“We have paused the program to focus on building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We’re committed to this for the long term and will revisit opportunities for third-party device partnerships as the category evolves.”
Meta announced the partner program in April last year, stating that companies such as Asus, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Lenovo were working on headsets that would run Horizon OS. At the time, Meta said consumers benefit most from a broad hardware ecosystem built on a common platform.
Since the announcement, updates on the initiative have been limited. As recently as September, at the company’s Connect event, Meta said it was still engaging with partners to bring Horizon OS to more devices.
Horizon OS was built to deliver “mixed reality experiences” and enable “social presence” using hand, body, eye, and face tracking technologies. The platform was launched when Meta positioned the metaverse as the future of the company.
In recent months, however, Meta’s focus has shifted toward artificial intelligence. Earlier this month, a financial publication reported that the metaverse team within Reality Labs could face budget cuts of up to 30%. Meta later confirmed it is “shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and wearables given the momentum there.”
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