Spring is here, and we all hope it is going to bring away some of the cold of the Winter of VR!
Before heading to the most relevant pieces of XR news of the week, let me thank Feedspot for having selected my blog again inside its shortlist of top 90 worldwide VR blogs! And thank you all for continuing to support me and make these results possible every year. 
Top news of the week
(Image by Meta)
Horizon Worlds is going fully mobile. Or maybe not
The situation around Horizon Worlds is beyond confusing. Just one year ago, it was Meta’s big bet on the VR metaverse. Then the company announced it was going mostly mobile. And the past week, Meta at first announced the VR version was going to be discontinued, and then changed its mind again and decided that existing VR worlds can still be enjoyed for the time being. If Meta could stick with one decision for more than five minutes, that would be great.
The initial decision of this week was to completely discontinue the VR version of Horizon Worlds: in March, some of the worlds wouldn’t be visitable anymore, and on June 15th, the whole application would have been removed from the Quest Store. This caused some backlash from the community: the press was used to only mention the negative sides of Horizon Worlds, but actually, there were also nice communities of VR people there. There were people doing stand-up comedy, others just hanging around in beautiful worlds they created with the Desktop Editor.
So Meta, like two days after the discontinuation decision, decided that actually, Horizon Worlds will survive in life support on Quest, with the worlds created with the Unity editor still available for people wanting to enjoy them. But I guess it’s a temporary decision: if it is impossible to create new worlds in a social VR space, sooner or later, it is going to be shut down. Anyway, I’m happy for the fans of the platform: they invested so much in it and deserve to enjoy it, until they find a new home.
Anyway, Meta has kept the decision to remove the Horizon Worlds worlds from the main UI of the Quest, so as to give back visibility to the games developed for Quest. This is very good to help indie studios have more sales.
While many VR people were not fans of Horizon Worlds and rejoiced about this piece of news, it is actually pretty bad news for us all. There are especially three bad consequences of this:
- All the multiplayer worlds created with Horizon Hyperscape won’t be visitable again. Multiplayer in Hyperscape was based on Horizon Worlds, and with Horizon Worlds being discontinued, that feature is discontinued, too
- Horizon Worlds was being integrated into the operating system. Now that it is discontinued, I have no idea what the consequences will be for Horizon OS: I’m pretty sure some features are going to be removed, others are going to be changed, and so on
- Many people in the mainstream press heard the news and translated it as “Meta bet $80B on the metaverse, and now it is shutting it down”. It is not important for them that Meta never spent $80B on Horizon Worlds (the main goal has always been AR glasses) and that Horizon Worlds is not being shut down. They’re all just happy to shit on Meta and to shit on XR. The consequences of this will hit us all: fewer investments in XR, less trust in the ecosystem, fewer customers for us all, and so on. This is actually a disaster for us all who pay the bills thanks to XR.
I truly wish the best for Horizon Worlds on mobile, even if I’m very doubtful about its ability to compete with Roblox. I’m not so sure Meta took the right decision with it…
More info (Meta shutting down Horizon Worlds VR — Road To VR)
More info (Meta shutting down Horizon Worlds VR — Upload VR)
More info (VR worlds in Horizon Worlds will still be accessible)
Other relevant news
(Image by NVIDIA)
NVIDIA held its GTC conference
This week, NVIDIA held its flagship conference, the GTC. Jensen Huang took the stage and made his keynote and made his usual long speech, this time mostly talking about AI. NVIDIA is now an AI company, much more than a 3D company.
I’m mentioning this conference and sharing with you a video with a roundup of it for a few good reasons:
- Technology does not live in a silo, and AI is also very relevant for XR. So, hearing what NVIDIA has to say is also relevant to us;
- NVIDIA is still very committed to graphics cards, which power our PCVR headsets;
- Jensen talked again about Omniverse, NVIDIA’s enterprise “metaverse”. I remember 1–2 years ago, he mentioned that he saw a lot of potential in that. While many companies backtracked on their metaverse investments, NVIDIA did not;
- The announced DLSS 5, which augments the graphics of 3D games at runtime thanks to the use of generative AI, may be useful for VR too, one day.
More info (Summary video of GTC 2026)
More info (Jensen Huang releasing a long interview after GTC)
The VR Games Showcase is back
On March 24th at 9 am PT, there will be the VR Games Showcase again, announcing many news items about VR games. As usual, 20 minutes before an indie pre-show will show some news about minor upcoming VR experiences.
Expect a lot of news from it. This is how Jamie Feltham is teasing it:
It includes fresh looks at some of the biggest upcoming releases, including The Boys: Trigger Warning from ARVORE and Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR from Flat2VR Studios, as well as updates on hits like Triangle Factory’s Forefront, Bootstrap Island from Maru VR, and Dimensional Double Shift from Owlchemy Labs.
We’ll also have one of our biggest game announcements to date, as well as previews from the team at Creature and top VR studios including Innerspace, Spectral Games and more. And there’s over 10 titles in our pre-show, highlighting some of the best independent games.
If you like VR games, tomorrow you’re going to have fun 
News worth a mention
(Image by Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Some hackers claim to have jailbroken PSVR 2 on PC
You know that Sony provides an adapter to use PSVR 2 with a PC, but the headset has limited functionality there. Now, a hardware hacker group previously behind the PSVR2Toolkit says it’s effectively “jailbroken” PSVR 2 for PC, enabling features like HMD vibration and eye tracking camera feed. This seems cool: let’s see how well it works when the hack is shared with the public.
Gaussian Splat videos are now used for porn
When I tried the animated Gaussian Splat videos provided by Gracia, I was amazed by them, and one thing I thought immediately was that one great use case would also be adult entertainment. This week, I’ve found on Reddit that actually, Braindance VR has been already doing that for some time now. And now it also streams them without the need of installing any app. I guess I have to take this for the team and review it on this blog. Thank me later.
The success of XR is up to us
Steve Lukas has published an interesting editorial on Ian Hamilton’s blog. He says that the recent events showed us that big corporations do not have a clear idea of how to make XR succeed, but they just do random stuff and see what sticks. So we can not just rely on them to make XR mainstream, but all of us should also do our best to improve the XR ecosystem. While I don’t agree with everything that is written there, I completely agree with the spirit.
3% of Unity devs are working to ship an XR application
Unity has just released a long Unity Game Development Report, with many statistics about the gaming industry. One datum that I’ve found very interesting is that 3% of Unity devs are working to release an XR game. 3% is a low number, which shows that XR is still a niche, but remember that Unity devs are many, so 3% is not even that bad.
VMOCION aims at releasing a device using GVS
VMOCION has announced VFORCE, a wearable device that uses GVS (Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation) to add a physical sensation of motion to VR, gaming, and simulation experiences. This could also help in solving the problem of motion sickness. GVS is a technology with a lot of potential, but most solutions are currently in early stages: let’s see how this one will turn out.
(Thanks Ivan for the tip!)
Two bad pieces of news for VR gaming
There has not been only Horizon Worlds. This week, we had two other pieces of bad news about VR gaming:
- Firewall Ultra, the tactical team shooter for PSVR 2, will be “terminated and will no longer be available on September 17, 2026.”
- Ubisoft is shutting down game development at Red Storm Entertainment, the studio behind Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR and many other famous flatscreen games like Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six. More than 100 people will lose their jobs
More info (Firewall Ultra)
More info (Red Storm Entertainment)
CloudXR is finding some applications on Apple Vision Pro
Last week, I reported to you about NVIDIA expanding the support for its cloud streaming solution CloudXR to the Apple Vision Pro. This week, this technology has already found two applications:
- PC VR sim games X-Plane 12 and iRacing will be officially playable on Apple Vision Pro, streamed from your PC via NVIDIA CloudXR
- Autodesk VRED now has an immersive mode that streams to Apple Vision Pro via Nvidia’s CloudXR, and automotive companies are already using it. In case you didn’t know, VRED is a very popular tool for 3D visualization for the automotive industry.
More info (X-Plane and iRacing)
More info (Autodesk VRED)
VRPirates has shut down
Meta’s lawyers managed to obtain the shutdown of the operations of VRPirates, the most popular platform for retrieving pirated Quest games. The community has split after this announcement: half of the people are happy because this means that VR developers will get more money for their games; and half are sad or angry because they won’t be able to get VR games for free anymore. Considering the complicated moment for all of us XR professionals, I belong more to the first group.
A PSVR game about Breaking Bad was canceled
According to the magazine MP1ST, Firesprite was working on a Breaking Bad VR title for PSVR 2. The title was later canceled when Firesprite saw a lot of layoffs, probably around 2024. This is a true pity, I would have loved to see a Breaking Bad game in Virtual Reality!
Steam’s Spring Sale has arrived!
It’s time to open your wallets for Lord GabeN! Steam is having its annual Spring Sale and hundreds of VR games are discounted, including massive hits like Half-Life: Alyx or Into The Radius 2! The Steam Spring Sale ends on March 26 at 1 pm ET… don’t miss this opportunity!
Some news about content
- The Boys: Trigger Warning, a VR game based on the popular series, is now slated to release on Quest on March 26th, and “soon” on PSVR 2
- Parkour game SkyLeap has now been released on Quest and PC VR
- The survival horror game Maid of Sker, inspired by Welsh folklore, has been released on all the major VR platforms, priced at €23
- Demential job-simulator-like game Space Control will launch on… April 1st. Definitely a great choice for this type of game
- Headhunters, a chaotic multiplayer platform fighter, is out now on Quest 3
- Coatsink has announced that its charming flight adventure game Skytail will release on March 26 for Quest headsets.
More info (The Boys: Trigger Warning)
More info (SkyLeap)
More info (Maid Of Sker)
More info (Space Control)
More info (Headhunters)
More info (Skytail)
Some reviews about content
- The full release of Bootstrap Island lives up to its early promise with a highly engaging, immersive, and at times disturbing adventure that stands as one of VR’s best survival titles
- Unseen Diplomacy 2 is a very good game featuring procedurally-generated levels. But its bugs sometimes make it frustrating
- Maid of Sker VR is not a great port of the game to virtual reality platforms. It has potential, but it must be patched a lot
- The Balenciaga fashion show on Apple Vision Pro is nice, but it needs to exploit more the potential of the medium
More info (Bootstrap Island)
More info (Unseen Diplomacy 2)
More info (Maid Of Sker VR)
More info (Balenciaga)
Other news
Dimensional Double Shift adds a new update to make hand-tracked turning accessible
Metaverse Standards Forum and RP1 Create the Open Metaverse Browser Initiative
Meta funds six external studies about its EMG wristband
Learn more (Road To VR)
Learn more (Upload VR)
Upload VR has written a hands-on impressions piece on Somnium Space
Someone tried to use the Quest as a web development device and shared interesting advice about this use case
Virtual reality games may improve motor skills in young people with dyspraxia
AR can improve a lot workplace training for people with disabilities
World Mouse lets you interact with objects in mixed reality using a sort of mouse
News from partners (and friends)
Buy bHaptics suits!
bHaptics haptic suits had a 15% sale for the past week. And now there are still discounts on the bundles! Head to its website and check them out!
Learn more
Sponsored Area
Discover FM DUO camera!
Meet the FM DUO, a VR camera that is capable of filming up to 12K @30fps, and 8K @60fps. With built-in RTMP live streaming and 5G connectivity, the FM·DUO will immerse your viewers in real time! The FM·DUO features 2 full-frame CMOS sensors, with 6000 x 6000 pixels each. This allows for high-resolution zooming capabilities. Not only can you narrow in on one subject, but you can also focus on singular details of the subject’s facial expressions, clothing textures, and a multitude of other small details, enabling a much more immersive experience of VR video.
Visit Product Website
Some XR fun
One of the best memes about DLSS 5 on/off I’ve seen this week…
Funny link
These controllers’ speeds when playing Beat Saber challenge the laws of physics
Funny link
The best VR I’ve tried in my life
Funny link
Just a guy getting scared in VR
Funny link
Ian totally nailed it
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
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And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Meta)
The post The XR Week Peek (2026.03.23): Meta almost shuts down Horizon Worlds VR, NVIDIA had its GTC conference, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://skarredghost.com/2026/03/23/meta-shuts-horizon-worlds-gtc/