Tootfinder

Meta rolls out link sharing to let users invite up to eight people into their Hyperscape virtual rooms via a Quest 3 or 3S headset, or the Horizon mobile app (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/825705/meta-hyperscape-social-links-capt…

Meta’s Hyperscape is ready to turn your real living room into a VR hangout
Meta is rolling out the ability to visit virtual worlds captured with its photorealistic Hyperscape tech with groups of people instead of solo.

After years of failing to produce a profitable augmented reality platform,
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is pounding one of the final nails into the coffin of its metaverse efforts
— the ones that were once so central to its vision that it renamed the entire company after them.
This week, the Wall Street Journalreported Meta was laying off some 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division,
-- the department working on Meta’s virtual reality products.
As part of the …

Meta Lays Off Thousands of VR Workers as Zuckerberg’s Vision Fails
The company has laid off some 1,500 virtual reality developers as part of a broader shift toward AI wearable devices.

Almost like they're chopped off the metaverse at the knees…
So visionary that they renamed and redirected the company after the wrong technology trend.

Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp that renamed itself in the Metaverse craze less than five years ago, is reducing its Metaverse activity by 10% and laying off some 1500 employees.
https://www.uploadvr.com/meta-reportedly-laying-off-over-10…

Epic Games partners with Unity to bring games made with Unity Engine to Fortnite in 2026, part of Epic's longterm vision to make Fortnite into an open metaverse (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/report/823233/for

Fortnite is getting Unity games
Epic Games is teaming up with Unity to bring games made using Unity’s engine into Fortnite.

A look at the rising popularity of virtual K-pop stars, usually created by artists wearing motion sensor suits, and the labor rights questions they raise (Michelle Kim/Rest of World)
https://restofworld.org/2025/metaverse-kpop-idols/

The metaverse is rewriting the rules of who can be a K-pop star
In an industry studded with megastars like BTS and Blackpink, virtual idols are building powerful new fandoms even while their true identities remain obscured.

Meta will discontinue Workrooms, its VR space for workers, on February 16; Quest headsets and Horizon services will not be sold to businesses as of February 20 (Sean Hollister/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/tech/863209/meta-has-discontinued-its-meta…

Meta has discontinued its metaverse for work, too
Meta is discontinuing Horizon Workrooms and Meta Horizon managed services, amidst its many VR layoffs.

@… was so into the idea of "the metaverse" only four years ago that he renamed the damn company to "Meta" and now it isn't the next big thing anymore.
https://cyberplace.social/@GossiTheDog/115663179089382328

Expert systems are inevitable
Don’t get left behind, Flash is the future
Java Applets will replace all other software
Cryptocurrency will obsolete fiat currency
Better claim your stake in the Metaverse
By 2015, we will all have self-driving cars
Pen computing is going to end keyboards on laptops
You’ll look so stupid if you miss out on NFTs

Excellent read: why growth stock companies are always desperately pumping up one bubble or another, spending billions to hype the pivot to video, or cryptocurrency, or NFTs, or Metaverse, or AI?
https://pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/pop-that-bubble/

The difference between the metaverse and AI is that the metaverse was gated to quite an expensive gadget that didn't have any other purpose.
AI is "free", anyone can try with little effort and investment.
Even if it's going to be a failure, this one will stick with us much longer

Sources: Meta does not plan to abandon building the metaverse, and expects to shift the savings from the layoffs into investments in its AR glasses (Mike Isaac/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/technology/meta-cuts-metaverse-unit.html

Meta Weighs Cuts to Its Metaverse Unit
Meta plans to direct its investments to focus on wearables like its augmented reality glasses but does not plan to abandon building the metaverse.

🕶️ Community Analysis of Social Virtual Reality Based on Large-Scale Log Data of a Commercial Metaverse Platform
#vr

Community Analysis of Social Virtual Reality Based on Large-Scale Log Data of a Commercial Metaverse Platform
This study quantitatively analyzes the structural characteristics of user communities within Social Virtual Reality (Social VR) platforms supporting head-mounted displays (HMDs), based on large-scale log data. By detecting and evaluating community structures from data on substantial interactions (defined as prolonged co-presence in the same virtual space), we found that Social VR platforms tend to host numerous, relatively small communities characterized by strong internal cohesion and limited …

Sources: Meta plans to lay off ~10% of its 15,000-person Reality Labs division, disproportionately affecting those working on VR headsets and Horizon Worlds (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/technology/meta-layoffs-reality-labs.html

Meta Plans to Cut 10% to 15% of Employees in Reality Labs Business
The layoffs are set to be announced this week and would affect Meta’s work on the metaverse, as the company spends heavily on building artificial intelligence.

With Facebook having hired Apple's design guy, will they get Liquid Legs for the Metaverse

As part of its Reality Labs cuts, Meta is closing three VR gaming studios and will stop developing new content and features for its VR fitness app Supernatural (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/news/861420/meta-reality-la…

Meta is closing down three VR studios as part of its metaverse cuts
Meta’s Reality Labs layoffs include shutting down some of its VR studios, according to employees affected by the cuts.

Meta confirms it is laying off Reality Labs staff and will "reinvest the savings" in wearables; CTO Andrew Bosworth says 1,000 staff will be notified Tuesday (Kurt Wagner/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Sources: Infinite Reality, rebranded as Napster, told staff that $3B in funding from an unnamed investor is not coming, calling itself a "victim of misconduct" (Phoebe Liu, Iain Martin/Forbes)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/202<…

Napster Said It Raised $3 Billion From A Mystery Investor. Now The ‘Investor’ And ‘Money’ Are Gone
Forbes raised questions about a massive funding round metaverse-turned-AI firm Napster supposedly raised in January. The money is never coming, the company said Thursday.

Internal memo: Meta's head of AI product Nat Friedman says Vishal Shah, who previously led the metaverse unit, is joining his team to lead AI product management (Hannah Murphy/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/89a089db-432e-44eb-96e3-21f9ffce555c