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Meta discontinues Metaverse for work
Meta has decided to end Workrooms as a standalone application, starting February 16, 2026
Just two months before changing its name to “Meta,” Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced his workplace vision for the metaverse: Horizon Workrooms, designed for virtual workplace collaboration. Today, Meta announced it will be closing this space.
“Meta has decided to end Workrooms as a standalone application, effective February 16, 2026,” states a notice hidden in a help document.
Meta will also cease selling its headsets and software as a business service, according to another help page:
“We are halting sales of Meta Horizon managed services and commercial versions of Meta Quest, effective February 20, 2026.”
Recently, Meta reduced its staff by nearly 10% within the Reality Labs division, amounting to over 1,000 job cuts.
As a result, it's increasingly apparent that Zuckerberg has shifted his perception of what the term “metaverse” really signifies.
Initially, Meta’s layoffs had entirely closed three of its own established VR game studios, in addition to one it shut down back in 2024.
Recently, it was revealed that the company is leaving behind future developments on Supernatural, their premier VR fitness app, and has reportedly dismantled the studio known for Batman: Arkham Shadow as well.
According to Bloomberg, "Meta will keep working on the metaverse, but will concentrate on mobile devices instead of the fully immersive VR headsets the company initially envisioned.”
To clarify, the term “metaverse” was originally coined by Snow Crash author Neal Stephenson to define a complete immersive shared VR world, though mobile aligns better if you consider Fortnite as part of a metaverse without the necessity for “fully immersive” experiences.