Meta Horizon Worlds has not yet reached its full potential- or at least the success that Meta hopes it to be. One of the features of the metaverse project has been shut down by the company because it wasn't "living up to the needs" of the community.
Meta Sunsets Horizon Worlds Events
As part of the effort to make the metaverse project better, the company looked into the legacy tools and features of Meta Horizon Worlds. Unfortunately, they've found that some legacy features are not fit for Meta's "renewed quality standards."
And so instead of improving on the event creation tool, the company decided to take it down instead. The removal has been effective since May 9th, and users will no longer see the option to create events in the metaverse, as mentioned in Meta's Discord announcement.
The discontinuation was brought on by feedback from those who use the tools. Meta still has no clear plans whether they would bring back the events creation tool in Worlds, although they stated that the creators would be the first to know should they release something new.
As for the users who have already scheduled events prior to the shut down, their events would still proceed as planned. Despite that, some creators are not happy about the change since there are people who wanted to see improvements instead of it being scrubbed completely.
For instance, tehre are creators in the metaverse project who run a VR comedy club called "Unknown Theater." The host the club through Horizon Worlds' event creation tool. They have already experienced issues with it even before Meta shut the tool down.
As mentioned in The Verge, events organized by the community have become harder to find after Meta made some changes. Instead, high-profile events that feature more well-known individuals were more advertised.
Richard Slixton, a comedian who hosts open mics through metaverse events said that it was "super frustrating and disheartening." Creators pour in hours of work to build a world and learn new skills. There's also the work of putting events together, only to not be noticed at all.
In Other Metaverse News
Weeks ago, Meta has also caught the ire of US lawmakers as it allows teenagers into Meta Horizon Worlds. Several people and groups believe that letting teens into the metaverse could have "unintended consequences" for their mental health.
Teens from the US and Canada that are no younger than 13 can enter the metaverse. Meta says that they'll be able to explore immersive worlds, play games like Arena Clash and Giant mini Paddle Golf, as well as watch concerts and live comedy events.
Democratic Senator Ed Markey pointed out that Meta has a record of failing to protect children and teens. He added that by allowing them inside Horizon Worlds, they are yet again putting "young users at risk" to make more money as mentioned in CNN.
To provide some sort of assurance, Meta claims that it will be adding protectiove guardrails to protect young users, such as making their profile and activities less visible to other users by default.
