horizon worlds

NBA is Broadcasting a Ton of Games This Season in VR on Quest

horizon worlds, immersive nba, Meta Quest 3 News & Reviews, nba, nba games in vr, nba vr, vr nba games, xtadium / Mike M. / October 28, 2023

The NBA announced it’s expanding the number of games it’s recording for Quest headsets by a wide margin, bringing a ton of 180-degree immersive games to NBA League Pass holders.

Games will be available in both through the Xtadium app on Quest and Meta Horizon Worlds—both of which require the NBA League Pass subscription viewing service to access. Games on Xtadium have already begun, while games on Horizon Worlds kick off November 17th.

Note: Xtadium and NBA League Pass VR games are only available in the US.

Each app has it own perks. Xtadium lets you do a ‘Watch Party’, where you can invite friends to join you in your own private party room and catch the game together in VR as avatars. It also lets you watch games on-demand, watch up to eight games in 2D simultaneously, and watch games in mixed reality mode.

The NBA Arena in Horizon Worlds is set to include interactive games like the Slam Dunk Jam and Basket Blitz. There’s also set to be plenty of opportunities to mess around in a stadium environment, unlock stickers, emotes, exclusive avatar wearables, and access to the VIP Lounge by attending immersive games or playing mini-games in NBA Arena. You’ll even be able to buy your avatar NBA or WNBA team apparel, which you can wear in VR as well as on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.

As always, the standard set of NBA League Pass geo-restrictions apply, which means some games may not be available in all regions, and viewers located near the physical event may be unable to view it based on localized restrictions.

Here’s the full schedule:

October 25 // Atlanta Hawks vs. Charlotte Hornets // 4: 00 pm PT
October 28 // Memphis Grizzlies vs. Washington Wizards // 4: 00 pm PT
October 30 // Miami Heat vs. Milwaukee Bucks // 5: 00 pm PT
November 3 // Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder // 5: 00 pm PT
November 6 // San Antonio Spurs vs. Indiana Pacers // 4: 00 pm PT
November 10 // Minnesota Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs // 5: 00 pm PT
November 14 // Dallas Mavericks vs. New Orleans Pelicans // 5: 00 pm PT
November 17 // Philadelphia 76ers vs. Atlanta Hawks // 4: 30 pm PT
November 18 // New York Knicks vs. Charlotte Hornets // 3: 00 pm PT
November 21 // Toronto Raptors vs. Orlando Magic // 4: 00 pm PT
November 24 // Detroit Pistons vs. Indiana Pacers // 5: 00 pm PT
November 25 // Los Angeles Lakers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers // 4: 30 pm PT
November 28 // Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics // 4: 30 pm PT
December 2 // Indiana Pacers vs. Miami Heat // 5: 00 pm PT
December 11 // Denver Nuggets vs. Atlanta Hawks // 4: 30 pm PT
December 14 // Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat // 4: 30 pm PT
December 16 // Philadelphia 76ers vs. Charlotte Hornets // 4: 00 pm PT
December 18 // LA Clippers vs. Indiana Pacers // 4: 00 pm PT
December 20 // Los Angeles Lakers vs. Chicago Bulls // 5: 00 pm PT
December 21 // San Antonio Spurs vs. Chicago Bulls // 5: 00 pm PT
December 23 // San Antonio Spurs vs. Dallas Mavericks // 5: 30 pm PT
December 27 // New York Knicks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder // 5: 00 pm PT
December 30 // Los Angeles Lakers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves // 5: 00 pm PT
January 2 // Boston Celtics vs. Oklahoma City Thunder vs. 5: 00 pm PT
January 6 // Utah Jazz vs. Philadelphia 76ers // 4: 30 pm PT
January 8 // Boston Celtics vs. Indiana Pacers // 4: 00 pm PT
January 9 // Portland Trail Blazers vs. New York Knicks // 4: 30 pm PT
January 13 // New York Knicks vs. Memphis Grizzlies // 5: 00 pm PT
January 15 // Indiana Pacers vs. Utah Jazz // 6: 00 pm PT
January 20 // San Antonio Spurs vs. Washington Wizards // 4: 00 pm PT
January 21 // Denver Nuggets vs. Washington Wizards // 3: 00 pm PT
January 26 // Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Milwaukee Bucks // 5: 00 pm PT
January 28 // Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Detroit Pistons // 3: 00 pm PT
January 29 // New Orleans Pelicans vs. Boston Celtics // 4: 30 pm PT
February 2 // Miami Heat vs. Washington Wizards // 4: 00 pm PT
February 3 // Brooklyn Nets vs. Philadelphia 76ers // 3: 00 pm PT
February 5 // Dallas Mavericks vs. Philadelphia 76ers // 4: 00 pm PT
February 9 // Charlotte Hornets vs. Milwaukee Bucks // 5: 00 pm PT
February 12 // Denver Nuggets vs. Milwaukee Bucks // 5: 00 pm PT
February 26 // Brooklyn Nets vs. Memphis Grizzlies // 5: 00 pm PT
March 1 // Indiana Pacers vs. New Orleans Pelicans // 5: 00 pm PT
March 4 // Portland Trail Blazers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves // 5: 00 pm PT
March 11 // Phoenix Suns vs. Cleveland Cavaliers // 4: 30 pm PT
March 15 // Denver Nuggets vs. San Antonio Spurs // 5: 30 pm PT
March 16 // Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Houston Rockets // 2: 00 pm PT
March 21 // Utah Jazz vs. Dallas Mavericks // 5: 30 pm PT
March 24 // Golden State Warriors vs. Minnesota Timberwolves // 4: 00 pm PT
March 29 // Phoenix Suns vs. Oklahoma City Thunder // 5: 00 pm PT
March 31 // Los Angeles Lakers vs. Brooklyn Nets // 3: 00 pm PT
April 5 // New York Knicks vs. Chicago Bulls // 5: 00 pm PT
April 7 // Sacramento Kings vs. Brooklyn Nets // 4: 30 pm PT
April 12 // Orlando Magic vs. Philadelphia 76ers // 4: 00 pm PT

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Meta Releases ‘Citadel’ Co-op VR Adventure, Its Second Marquee Title in ‘Horizon Worlds’

citadel, horizon worlds, horizon worlds minigames, Meta, meta vr, News, VR Game / Blake Jones / September 13, 2023

In late July, Meta introduced a hero shooter called ‘Super Rumble’ to Horizon Worlds, aiming to improve user retention on its social VR platform with the promise of higher quality first-party content. Now Meta released its second big anchor minigame on Horizon Worlds, a co-op adventure game called ‘Citadel’.

Citadel is what Meta calls a “rogue-lite action-adventure puzzle platformer FPS,” offering up both solo and co-op play.

Here’s how Meta describes the action:

Combining combat, puzzle-solving, and skillful gameplay, each room in Citadel gives players a new challenge to overcome. With numerous hidden secrets to uncover across 30 rooms, Citadel offers a wealth of content to explore. And after completing the game in Casual mode, those up for an additional challenge can take on Veteran mode for an even greater sense of achievement (and additional bragging rights).

As you infiltrate the citadel, find hidden relics, and eliminate enemy forces, you’ll unlock weapons and rewards and earn credit to buy new armor with unique stats to upgrade your hit points, number of lives, and speed. Mix and match helmets and torso armors at will to fully customize your gameplay experience.

Stocking Horizon Worlds with higher quality content has only been one piece of Meta’s user retention puzzle. Back in April, the company announced it was set to officially open the platform to kids ages 13+. Meta has also recently begun a closed beta for Android users, opening the platform to non-VR devices for the first time.

The company says it’s hoping to open Horizon Worlds to iOS devices and standard web browsers too at some point, which could help the platform gain greater traction amid some already fairly fierce competition. This comes as Meta opened Quest up the online gaming powerhouse Roblox, joining popular social VR platforms Rec Room, VRChat, and Gym Class on the Quest platform.

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Meta Avatars Finally Get Legs on Quest

horizon worlds, horizon worlds avatars, IK, inverse kinematics, Meta, meta avatars, meta horizon worlds, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, metaverse, News, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / Ryan Harris / August 29, 2023

Meta released a Quest software update via its public test channel (PTC), which lets users opt-in to try new features before they’re pushed out to everyone. Among the v57 PTC update is a feature that’s been notably missing from Meta avatars: legs.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised at Connect 2022 that its avatars would eventually be getting legs, putting an end to the platform’s characteristic floating torsos at some point in the not-too-distant future. At the time, Zuckerberg showed off his on-stage avatar jumping and kicking, although it was revealed later this was actually created using some fairly common external motion capture tech.

In short, Quest can’t track legs yet, which means the v57 PTC update is packing a pretty standard implementation of inverse kinematics (IK), resulting in the sort of body positioning guesswork you see in apps like VR Chat. Still, nice to see a full body in Quest Home for once, right?

X (formerly Twitter) user Lunayian shows off the new avatar legs after installing the v57 PTC update.

Meta Quest v57 PTC finally adds legs to your Meta avatar 😀 pic.twitter.com/3dzuuppp6e

— Luna (@Lunayian) August 29, 2023

YouTuber and tech analyst Brad Lynch also tried out the new legs, showing off some of the limitations currently. Notably, you won’t see your avatar’s legs when looking down directly at them—they’re only viewable via the mirror, and ostensibly by other users—and the IK system still doesn’t account for crouching.

According to data mined by X user NyaVR, the v57 PTC update also includes the ability to enable and disable the avatar mirror, a new Horizon Worlds Portal in home, an Airplane Mode, and an Extended Battery Mode.

The comes alongside a wider push to attract more users to Horizon Worlds, as Meta recently took its first steps of ending Quest-exclusivity for the social VR app with the launch of a closed beta on Android mobile devices. It’s also set to arrive on standard PC browsers too at some point.

Additionally, Meta seems to also be investing more in first-party content for Horizon Worlds, having released Super Rumble late last month, a hero shooter which feels more in line with the sort of sticky content that ought to attract and bring users back more regularly.

We’re sure to learn more about Quest software features and Horizon Worlds stuff at the company’s annual Connect developer conference, which takes place September 27th.

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Meta Launches ‘Horizon Worlds’ Closed Beta on Smartphones

horizon worlds, Meta, meta horizon worlds, News, Social VR, social xr, VR Game / Ryan Harris / August 29, 2023

Meta’s social VR platform just took its first step outside of Quest-exclusivity, as the company recently launched a closed beta for Horizon Worlds on Android mobile devices.

You won’t find Horizon Worlds on Google Play. Users taking part in the closed beta can directly launch the app through the Quest Android app.

X (previously Twitter) user Lunayian was apparently one of those chosen few, showing off a brief hands-on in the Super Rumble lobby, Meta’s first-party hero shooter revealed late last month.

Meta Horizon Worlds – PC Footage pic.twitter.com/VL0IhbPmKr

— Luna (@Lunayian) August 27, 2023

Besides scripted avatar animations, the user’s legs seem to be what visually separates users on Quest from Android mobile devices, as Quest users are doomed to skate around as floating torsos until Meta decides otherwise.

There’s no word when the company plans to roll out access on browsers either, which the beta’s FAQ says will broaden availability of the platform to iOS devices on Safari, and Google Chrome, Safari, or Microsoft Edge on laptops and desktops.

At the time of this writing, the standard geolocation restrictions are still in effect for Horizon Worlds, with only users in the following countries able to access the platform: Canada, France, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

When it does roll out to more locations and platforms though, it will be better positioned to actually compete with the most successful metaverse apps, such as Rec Room, Roblox, and VR Chat, all of which have benefited from releasing on essentially every major platform worldwide—VR headsets and traditional platforms included. Undoubtedly, Meta is looking to replicate this success with Horizon Worlds, as it is now offering up better (and decidedly more sticky) first-party content like Super Rumble.

We’re sure to learn more about new Horizon Worlds features at the company’s annual Connect developer conference soon, which takes place September 27th, steaming both online and in-person for a select few at the company’s Menlo Park headquarters.

Meta Launches ‘Horizon Worlds’ Closed Beta on Smartphones Read More »

Meta’s New First-person Shooter Aims to Highlight Improvements to ‘Horizon Worlds’

horizon worlds, meta horizon worlds, meta social vr, News, rec room, roblox, Social VR, VR Game, vrchat / Mike M. / August 1, 2023

Meta introduced a new game called ‘Super Rumble‘ to Horizon Worlds, something the company hopes will showcase a new generation of improved experiences on its own social VR platform.

Released after a successful beta weekend in May, the free-for-all first-person shooter is said to highlight new improvements to Horizon Worlds, such as “better graphics, deeper gameplay, and a variety of quests and rewards.”

Players can choose from six superpowers before each session, allowing them to outmaneuver opponents and develop their playstyles. Here’s how Meta describes each power:

Super Dash gives you super speed
Super Jump lets you launch into the air with explosive force
Super Ammo saves you from having to reload
Super Tough reduces the damage you’ll take from each hit
Super Net lets you immobilize other players
Super Punch lets you attack with a powerful punch

Super Rumble is aiming to offer a fast-paced experience, which serves up to two to six players, with each match lasting five minutes. The game also serves as a launching point for a new integrated system of player levels, quests, rewards, the latter of which includes avatar clothing, emotes, and nameplate titles.

Check out the action below:

We’ve seen a few first-party worlds alongside a number of third-party brand engagement experiences on Horizon Worlds since the platform launched in late 2021, however going the ‘full featured’ minigame route is a fairly recent move that has more potential to attract and keep users. It’s certainly helped Rec Room to become one of the most prolific social VR platforms to thrive on both VR headsets and traditional flatscreen devices.

Interestingly enough, this comes only one day after Meta opened Quest up the online gaming powerhouse Roblox, which is in direct competition with Horizon Worlds. Now, Quest users can choose between Roblox, Rec Room, VRChat, Horizon Worlds, and Gym Class to name a few of the top free social VR platforms.

Meta’s New First-person Shooter Aims to Highlight Improvements to ‘Horizon Worlds’ Read More »

Roblox is Coming to Quest, Casting a Shadow on Meta’s Own Social VR Platform

horizon worlds, Meta, News, quest, roblox, roblox quest, VR Industry / Ryan Harris / July 13, 2023

One of the biggest names social gaming is coming to Quest. Roblox is home to tens of millions of daily users and user-generated experiences. “In the coming weeks” Roblox will launch on Quest, casting a shadow on Meta’s own social VR platform, Horizon Worlds.

A Curious Proposition

Meta confirmed today that Roblox is coming to Quest “in the coming weeks” starting as an Open Beta on App Lab before eventually graduating to a full launch on the main Quest store.

On one hand, the move is a win for Meta. Roblox is one of the most popular social gaming and user-generated content platforms; playing in a similar ballpark with the likes of Minecraft and Fortnite. Getting Roblox onto Quest brings a valuable and recognizable IP to the platform, along with a huge new social graph of non-VR players.

On the other hand, Roblox is very nearly a direct competitor to Meta’s own social VR platform, Horizon Worlds. Both Horizon and Roblox are heavily focused on social experiences and user-generated content. But compared to Horizon, which caters only to the smaller demographic of VR players, Roblox has some 66 million daily active players across Xbox, iOS, Android, desktop—and soon, Quest.

For comparison, that means the number of people playing Roblox every day (66 million) is more than the total number of Quest headsets ever sold (believed to be around 20 million).

So ambitious creators looking to build content for the largest audience (and largest return-on-investment) will see the scale tipped vastly toward Roblox over Horizon.

Whether or not Roblox on Quest will stifle the fledgling Horizon remains to be seen, but needless to say this is an awkward situation. Not just for Meta though; Roblox also represents a looming threat to other social VR applications like VRChat and Rec Room.

Roblox Content Compatibility on Quest

Roblox currently has some 15 million playable experiences for users to choose from, but not all (probably not most) will be suitable to play on Quest.

Meta says the Roblox Open Beta on Quest is a “great opportunity for the Roblox developer community to optimize their existing games for Quest and build new ones for VR while gathering input and feedback from the Quest community.”

That said, Roblox Corp plans to automatically enable VR support for some portion of existing Roblox experiences, though exactly how many is unclear.

“[…] we have automatically updated the Access setting for some of the experiences that use default player scripts to include support for VR devices. We have found that experiences that use default player scripts typically run well in VR without modifications. Automatically publishing these experiences allows us to seed our library of experiences that support VR devices,” the company says in its announcement of Roblox on Quest.

Presently it isn’t clear if or how the company plans to ensure that user-generated Roblox experiences on meet minimum performance expectations on Quest.

Modernized PC VR Support for Roblox

Roblox has offered PC VR support for many years at this point and the company appears committed to continue supporting the platform in addition to Quest.

Less than a month ago Roblox Corp announced that it would adopt OpenXR to future-proof its VR support, including for PC VR headsets. The update also included improvements to correctly synchronizing the player’s VR playspace and scale to that of the current experience.

Roblox is Coming to Quest, Casting a Shadow on Meta’s Own Social VR Platform Read More »

Meta to Open ‘Horizon Worlds’ Social VR Platform to Kids Ages 13+

horizon worlds, Meta, meta horizon worlds, News, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / Ryan Harris / April 22, 2023

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s social VR platform for Quest, is only open to 18+ users for now, however the company says it’s expanding to include teens aged 13 to 17 in the US and Canada.

Meta says the new policy will go into effect in “the coming weeks,” effectively opening the company’s first-party social platform to its entire user base in those countries; Meta only allows users 13+ to actually use Quest devices.

To prepare for the wave of younger users, the company is also releasing some age-appropriate protections and safety defaults.

Safety features will include the ability for teens to control who they follow and who can follow them back. Profiles are also set to private by default, which obscures active status and location. Worlds and events will have content ratings, so younger teens can’t get in.

A new voice mode feature is also rolling out to everyone, which garbles voices of both unknown people and teen’s voices by default. Raising your hand to your ear temporarily lets you hear other users when voice mode is switched on, Meta says.

“We’re rolling out to teens slowly, so that we can carefully examine usage and are taking a phased approach before expanding more broadly,” the company says in a blogpost. “We can’t wait to see everything these new members of the community bring to Worlds.”

Parents and guardians can use the parental supervision tools to manage their teen’s experience and “support healthy conversations about safety in VR,” Meta says. To learn more, check out the new Family Center.

The company also released a safety tutorial to see the new features in action:

While Meta only just released official word of those changes to Horizon Worlds, the news was actually first reported by The Wall Street Journal in February, which was based on an internal memo that alleged the social VR platform was under performing and needed to increase user retention to keep up with the competition. According to the memo seen by WSJ, Horizon Worlds’ weekly retention rate was 11% in January 2023, which the company aimed to increase to 20%.

A goal outlined in the memo maintained Worlds needed to reach 500,000 monthly active users (MAU) in the first half of 2023, ultimately reaching the one million mark by year’s end. At the time, it was reported the platform was hovering around 200,000 MAUs, or just below the December peak.

There’s no telling when the flatscreen version of Horizon Worlds is due to arrive, however Meta maintained it would be opening the Quest-only social platform to Web and mobile devices “soon.”

Meta to Open ‘Horizon Worlds’ Social VR Platform to Kids Ages 13+ Read More »

Report: Meta to Open ‘Horizon Worlds’ to Younger Teens Amid Renewed Retention Push

horizon, horizon vr, horizon worlds, horizon worlds app, Meta, Meta Quest 2, meta quest social, meta social vr, metaverse, News, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / Mike M. / February 9, 2023

Meta’s social VR app for Quest, Horizon Worlds, is lagging behind the competition when it comes to attracting and retaining VR users. According to a leaked memo obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the company is now ostensibly looking to boost numbers by more transparently appealing to younger teens in addition to funding a slew of new second-party content.

WSJ only posted snippets of the memo, entitled ‘Horizon 2023 Goals and Strategy’, which was allegedly written by Meta Vice President of Horizon Gabriel Aul. The memo is said to outline the team’s objectives for the first half of 2023.

Here’s some highlights we formatted into a bulleted list, which also includes additional info supplied by a source cited by WSJ:

Competitors are outperforming HW. Improving user retention is most important, especially among teens and young adults
HW to open to teens aged 13 to 17, which could come as early as March
Meta is working with outside studios to build new worlds and experiences for HW
The team is aiming to launch at least 20 new Horizon-hosted experiences built by second-party studios. Of the 20, it’s hoping for five medium hits and at least one a major hit
The flatscreen version of Horizon for mobile and desktops is set to come sometime in H1 2023

Additionally, WSJ reports the memo outlined some key performance metrics, claiming Horizon Worlds’ weekly retention rate was 11% in January, which the company aims to increase to 20%. The goal for monthly active users for the first half of 2023 is said to be 500,000, with hopes of reaching one million for the full year. Currently the platform is at 200,000, or just below the December peak, the reported memo outlines.

The previously reported flatscreen version, which is said to launch by the end of the first half of 2023, is hoping to achieve 150,000 monthly cross-screen Horizon users.

Meta’s Quest 2 headset is technically only available to users aged 13 and up. Horizon Worlds on the other hand has been limited to users 18+ since it was launched in 2021, and only to those in US, Canada, UK, France, Iceland, Ireland and Spain.

While none of this seems to have hindered children below 13 from playing all the Quest 2 has to offer, Horizon Worlds included. More transparently appealing to young teens though will likely come with a host of safety requirements that the company needs to fulfil for liability reasons.

Meta issued a response to WSJ, supporting in part its move to focus on teens:

“Teens are already spending time in a variety of VR experiences on Quest,” Meta spokesman Joe Osborne told WSJ, “and we want to ensure that we can provide them with a great experience in Horizon Worlds as well, with age-appropriate tools and protections in place.”

This comes hot on the heels of Meta reducing its workforce by 13% late last year, one of the biggest tech layoffs in recent memory, which saw 11,000 jobs cut from payroll.

Meanwhile, the company’s Reality Labs XR division has dramatically increased its operating budget in an ostensible bid to maintain market dominance over similar metaverse pushes from the likes of Apple, Google, etc. At the same time, Meta has slashed some XR projects, including first-party title Echo VR.

Provided the report is true, it appears Meta is making another important step towards competing more directly with cross-platform social gaming titans like Roblox and Rec Room.

Report: Meta to Open ‘Horizon Worlds’ to Younger Teens Amid Renewed Retention Push Read More »

Meta’s Social VR App is Coming to Web & Mobile Soon, Alpha Begins for Members-only Rooms

horizon worlds, Meta, meta horizon, meta horizon worlds, Meta Quest 2, meta social vr, News, Quest 2, rec room, roblox, Social Virtual Reality, Social VR / Blake Jones / January 31, 2023

Horizon Worlds, Meta’s social VR platform for Quest users, is expanding with alpha tests of new members-only spaces, allowing creators to manage up to 150 card-carrying members in their private worlds. Meta says it’s also gearing up to release Horizon Worlds on non-Quest devices for the first time.

Meta is now rolling out alpha access to its new members-only worlds, which aims to let creators build and cultivate a space in Horizon Worlds. Each members-only world can have up to 150 members, although only 25 concurrent visitors can gather at any given time.

“Every community develops its own norms, etiquette, and social rules over time as it fosters a unique culture,” the company says in a blogpost. “To enable that, we’ll provide the tools that allow the creators of members-only worlds to set the rules for their communities and maintain those rules for their closed spaces.”

Meta says moderation responsibilities can be shared among trusted members, so creators can better control who gets in and who’s kicked out, however the company says its Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences is still in effect in privately owned spaces.

What’s more, the Quest-only social platform is also going to be available on the Web and mobile devices “soon”, the company says, adding that rules will be made and enforced “similarly to how mobile operating systems manage experiences on their platforms.”

As it is today, Horizon Worlds plays host to a growing number of user-generated content in addition to first-party worlds. The release of Horizon Worlds outside of Quest would represent a massive potential influx of users and user-generated content, putting it in direct competition with cross-platform social gaming titans such as Roblox and Rec Room.

As a similar free-to-play app, Horizon Worlds offers an Avatar Store featuring premium digital outfits—very likely only a first step in the company’s monetization strategy. For now, the company says it allows creators to earn revenue from purchases people make in their worlds, which includes hardware platform fees and a Horizon Worlds fee, which Meta says is 25 percent.

In late October, Meta showed off a tempting preview of its next-gen avatars, although it’s clear there’s still a ton of work to be done to satisfy its existing userbase. Floating torsos are still very much a thing in Horizon Worlds, and that’s despite Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s insistence that full body tracking was in the works. It was too good to be true.

For now, Horizon Worlds is only available on Quest 2 headsets in the US, Canada, UK, France, Iceland, Ireland and Spain—something we hope they change well before it ushers in flatscreen users.

Meta’s Social VR App is Coming to Web & Mobile Soon, Alpha Begins for Members-only Rooms Read More »

NBA Deepens Multiyear Partnership with Meta, Bringing More Ways to Watch Live Games on Quest

horizon worlds, horizon worlds sports, Meta Quest 2, nba league peass, nba quest, nba vr, News, vr basketball, VR Event, vr sports, vr video / Ryan Harris / January 24, 2023

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Meta announced they’re extending a multiyear partnership which is set to bring a few new ways for basketball fans to enjoy NBA League Pass games on Quest.

First signed in 2020, the deal essentially made Meta (ex-Facebook) an official marketing and VR headset partner of the NBA, Women’s NBA (WNBA) and NBA G League.

Now, with the extension, the companies are set to bring a new space to Meta’s Horizon Worlds platform called the ‘NBA Arena’, which will play host to live NBA League Pass games in VR throughout the season.

The new NBA Arena space promises to serve up 52 live NBA games in addition to five games captured in 180-degree monoscopic (2,880 resolution) specifically captured for VR users. In addition to shared viewing, the new NBA Arena also includes mini-games.

The companies announced that NBA League Pass access is also coming to Xtadium in the coming weeks, a US-only VR sports hub app that also offers shared watching.

At some point Meta is also set to roll out NBA-licensed apparel in its Avatar Store so fans can support their favorite NBA or WNBA teams. Avatar apparel also spans avatars on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger in addition to Horizon Worlds.

Here’s a look at the preliminary game schedule for the NBA Arena:

Jan. 24: Denver Nuggets vs. New Orleans Pelicans – 8 p.m. ET
Jan. 25: Denver Nuggets vs. Milwaukee Bucks – 8 p.m. ET
Jan. 27: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder – 8 p.m. ET
Jan. 29: LA Clippers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 7 p.m. ET
Jan. 31: Miami Heat vs. Cleveland Cavaliers – 7 p.m. ET

Check out all of the VR-accessible NBA games up to April 9th here.

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