Meta Connect 2025 delivered a clear message: the future of Horizon Worlds isn’t locked behind VR headsets. The focus this year shifted to AI-powered creation tools, mobile accessibility, and smart glasses that have already sold over 2 million units.
The most telling moment came when Mark Zuckerberg built a working game in under 10 minutes using Meta’s new AI tools. Watching developers react to that demo showed where the platform’s opportunities actually lie. Creation speed matters when you’re trying to compete for developer attention.
Between sessions, studios were evaluating whether Meta’s $50 million creator fund justifies building on a smaller platform, brand teams trying to understand if Horizon Worlds is ready for activations beyond experimental budgets, and 3D artists curious about the AI asset generation capabilities. The questions were practical: what works today, what’s coming soon, and what’s still an opportunity.
Here’s what Meta announced and what it means for the virtual worlds ecosystem.
1. AI-powered creation compresses months into minutes.
The rebuilt Meta Horizon Studio features comprehensive generative AI that creates entire worlds, 3D assets, NPCs with personalities, gameplay mechanics, and functioning code just from text prompts. During the keynote, Zuckerberg built a game prototype in under 10 minutes.
Why this matters for developers and brands:
- Dramatically lower barriers to entry for virtual world creation.
- Rapid prototyping and iteration cycles.
- Potential to build brand activations in hours rather than months.
The AI generates sound effects, ambient audio, fully scripted interactive assets, and can apply instant style transfers. Meta claims this is “the most comprehensive” generative AI toolset in the virtual worlds space.
2. Meta Horizon Engine: rebuilt from the ground up.
Meta spent two years building an entirely new engine to replace the Unity runtime. The results: 4x faster world loading and support for 100+ concurrent users per instance (up from roughly 20 previously).
Meta Horizon Engine’s new features:
- Automatic scaling from VR to mobile phones.
- Level-of-detail generation and environment streaming.
- Consistent cross-platform performance across VR, mobile, and desktop.
Zuckerberg described the loading experience as “more like loading a webpage than loading an entire new game.”
3. Cross-platform expansion: mobile, web, and VR
All Horizon Worlds experiences are now accessible via Quest headsets, mobile devices through the Meta Horizon app, and web browsers. Instant access from Facebook and Instagram links requires no separate app installation.
What does this signal?
Meta’s first-party studio launched Super Strike, a Horizon Worlds shooter playable exclusively on mobile and web. This represents Meta’s clearest statement yet about platform priorities: building for billions of smartphone users, not just VR headset owners.
4. $50 million creator fund and expanded monetization
Earlier this year, Meta allocated $50 million for creator bonuses based on engagement, retention, and in-world purchases, with an additional bonus for mobile-focused worlds. Since February, the Meta Horizon Creator Program has already expanded geographically to include new countries, showing their commitment to opening up the developer ecosystem.
5. Smart glasses take center stage
In the keynote, Meta unveiled three smart glasses models:
- Ray-Ban Meta Display: Features a heads-up display, real-time translation with in-lens captions, navigation, and the Meta Neural Band wristband for gesture control: scrolling, clicking, and text input through muscle signals.
- Ray-Ban Meta Gen 2: Upgraded 3K video recording with extended battery life.
- Oakley Meta Vanguard: Sports-focused with water resistance.
The Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit opens smart glasses to third-party apps, with early partners including Disney exploring AI park guides and Twitch for first-person streaming.
What does this mean for brands today?
Meta’s investment signal is clear: they’ve rebuilt the engine from scratch, allocated $50 million to creators, and integrated Horizon Worlds across their family of apps reaching billions of users. That cross-platform infrastructure – where a Horizon experience can be discovered on Instagram, played on mobile, and shared back to Facebook – doesn’t exist anywhere else at this scale.
The smart glasses opportunity deserves separate attention. Unlike headsets that stay in living rooms, these are devices people actually wear outside to parks, retail stores, events. The Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit opens possibilities for hands-free brand experiences that feel native to how people move through the world: AI park guides, real-time product information, immersive event enhancements.
Beyond Meta’s specific platform, this competition is healthy for the virtual UGC landscape. When major tech companies push each other on AI tools, creator economics, and cross-platform distribution, developers and brands benefit from faster innovation cycles and more creative options. The rising tide lifts all boats – or in this case, all virtual worlds.
Key takeaways
Meta Connect 2025 showcased impressive technical capabilities: AI-powered world generation, a completely rebuilt engine with 4x performance improvements, photorealistic environment capture, and cross-platform accessibility. The smart glasses ecosystem, not VR headsets, appears to be Meta’s primary hardware bet going forward.
For developers and brands, the opportunity is clear but early-stage. The AI creation tools genuinely accelerate development velocity, and the integration with Facebook and Instagram provides unmatched promotional reach. However, the platform is still building its audience and creator ecosystem.
