Meta Introduces $50M Content Fund for ‘Horizon Worlds’ Amid Challenges for VR Studios

Today, Meta rolled out a bold $50 million initiative aimed at spurring the development of new and enhanced content for Horizon Worlds, its in-house social gaming universe. The announcement comes at a crucial time as established studios that develop standalone VR apps for the Quest platform are grappling with changing user demographics, as pointed out by Meta.

The journey of Meta’s VR ventures kicked off with the Oculus Rift CV1 back in 2016. These standalone VR apps have been pivotal for Meta’s growth, much like the heart pumping lifeblood through a body. Over the years, these apps have not only defined Meta’s XR platform but have also attracted a growing user base. Yet, in a strategic shift, Meta now envisions success in an expansive ‘metaverse’ teeming with interconnected experiences.

Horizon Worlds represents Meta’s ambitious blueprint for crafting this metaverse. It’s designed to be a dual-purpose hub where users can play and create alike. Within Horizon Worlds, creators have the opportunity to design and publish their content for the community’s enjoyment. Social interaction is integrated by default, a fitting feature for one of the globe’s biggest social media giants.

However, while Horizon Worlds has been accessible in VR for some time, it hasn’t yet captured the substantial user base Meta craves. In response, Meta unlocked access to flat-screen devices, such as phones and computers, hoping to cast a wider net. Although this pivot means reaching a broader audience, it also complicates the role of creators who must now craft experiences that work for both VR and traditional screens.

One of the central challenges to drawing people back to Horizon Worlds is straightforward: content. Without engaging activities and compelling replay value, there’s little incentive for users to stay or even visit in the first instance. Meta has been making gradual progress by enticing more creators and developing its exclusive games within the platform.

In a move to further galvanize creators, Meta introduced a $50 million ‘Creator Fund.’ This new initiative aims to reward creators whose worlds drive high engagement and retention. As detailed in Meta’s announcement, “Each month, we’ll distribute bonuses from the Creator Fund to those who craft captivating mobile and MR worlds. These bonuses will be linked to contributions made by these worlds towards time spent, retention rates, and in-world purchases, providing creators with diverse avenues to maximize their revenue.”

The fund accompanies a new development tool, the Horizon Worlds desktop editor, providing creators with the capability to tackle more extensive projects utilizing the power and speed of their computers. This method closely mirrors the workflows of existing self-contained VR app developers, who primarily use game engines like Unity for development.

This initiative aligns with Meta’s steadfast belief that Horizon Worlds is pivotal to its success in this domain. Mimicking the influence of social gaming platforms like Fortnite, Meta aspires for Horizon Worlds to boast massive reach and stickiness.

Internally, Meta’s CTO emphasized to the XR and Horizon teams that the mobile version of Horizon Worlds is essential to the company’s long-term strategies. Although the new creator fund is certainly promising for developers who share Meta’s vision, it presents challenges for developers of the standalone VR and MR apps that have buoyed Meta’s devices.

The announcement of the fund underscores the past two years of Meta’s strategic realignment towards Horizon Worlds. The company restructured its headset interface and mobile companion app—everything was streamlined to put Horizon Worlds content front and center. Consequently, some high-quality standalone apps have found themselves overshadowed, sometimes replaced by amateur or cloned content that mimics successful standalone VR experiences.

Many third-party developers lament that this shift has adversely affected their businesses, which depend on app sales to maintain and innovate content. They’re concerned that Meta is redirecting traffic away from standalone apps to bolster its own platform, often taking a larger cut of creator earnings within Horizon Worlds.

The trickle-down effect has been significant, with a growing list of well-regarded studios making noteworthy cuts in staffing and operations. This trend is attributed not just to waning performance on Meta’s Quest platform but also to the broader struggles in the gaming industry. Meta itself shuttered a studio that was focused on high-budget standalone VR games.

While Meta has historically invested in standalone VR games and apps, deploying hundreds of millions of dollars and supporting indie developers through initiatives like Oculus Start, the sentiment among many developers is that the shifting focus of Meta—from VR to MR to Horizon Worlds—renders the Quest platform unstable and precarious for sustaining business.

Meta, however, counters this perception by attributing the difficulties faced by standalone VR app developers to a demographic shift among Quest users, who increasingly favor free-to-play models over paid content. This trend is evidenced by the runaway success of ‘Gorilla Tag,’ a title that has amassed over $100 million through in-app purchases thanks to its free-to-play strategy, lowering the entry threshold and achieving significant player numbers.

Other VR applications embracing the free-to-play model are seeing encouraging growth, such as Digigods, which recently secured $2.6 million in funding fueled by the popularity of socially-driven, free-to-play, and user-generated content.

Even as Meta acknowledges the continued importance of paid VR apps to its Horizon platform, reports suggest a dissenting view on the extent of ongoing support for self-contained VR creations. Despite the controversies, Meta remains committed to exploring various paths, aiming to evolve with the demands of both creators and audiences in this rapidly shifting landscape.