Meta’s first step towards the metaverse opens today with Horizon Worlds

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s virtual reality mini-metaverse is opening to anyone in the U.S. and Canada. It’s free to anyone 18 years of age or older, but you will need an Oculus Quest 2 headset to use it.

The virtual reality “social experience” isn’t just a space to hang out online. Like other metaverse game experiences like Roblox and Minecraft, Horizon Worlds enables users to create shared experiences. It goes further, enabling them to make games for other users to play. The thing missing? A way for creators to monetize their own content.

To go along with the wider release, Meta has also created a 3v3 laser tag experience inside Horizon Worlds, called Arena Clash. Creators can also use the building blocks from this to create their own games. It seems Meta is counting on creator content as a big draw for the game.

READ MORE: Meta’s Roblox competitor is now available to stream on Facebook

Creators won’t be able to sell their own content, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get paid. Meta has set up a $10 million Creator Fund to reward their hard work. That money will go to things like competition prizes, funding for developers, and also an Accelerator Program to teach creators the necessary skills to build in the Horizon Worlds metaverse.

Meta says that “thousands of worlds” have already been created in the invite-only beta period.

You can download Horizon Worlds for free on Quest 2 here. If you’re playing on a Quest 1 headset, Meta says it will no longer be supported on your headset after January 13, 2022.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• The Halo TV series has me the most hyped of all the Game Awards announcements
• Sony’s upcoming PSVR 2 controller is highlighted in a new patent
• Ubisoft is taking microtransactions to the next level with in-game NFTs
• Redditors wish they could forget these games and play them again for the first time
• Walmart seemingly has big plans for the metaverse

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.