Meta’s plan to popularize Horizon Worlds is to flood it with teenagers

Meta has been struggling to keep Horizon Worlds a thing and its latest plan to do so is to flood the app with teenagers.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, an internal memo detailed the plan to open up the app to the new age group. According to the memo, Meta wants to open up Horizon Worlds, its company and the user-generated virtual reality social app, to users between the ages of 13 and 17. The move could happen as soon as next month.

The new strategy includes opening up Horizon to teens aged 13 to 17, the memo says. The app is currently available to people 18 and older. A teen launch for Horizon could happen as soon as March, according to people familiar with the matter. 

Gabriel Aul, Meta’s vice president of the service, wrote in the memo that user retention is their biggest priority in the first half of 2023. He also pointed out that the company is currently being beaten by competitors in “meeting the unique needs of these cohorts.”

“Today our competitors are doing a much better job meeting the unique needs of these cohorts…For Horizon to succeed we need to ensure that we serve this cohort first and foremost.”

In a response to the WSJ report, Meta spokesperson Joe Osborne said that “teens are already spending time in a variety of VR experiences on Quest. The company reportedly plans to ensure that “age-appropriate tools and protections in place” for teenagers using the service. It’s currently unclear exactly what those tools and protections are, but they certainly will be vital to ensure that everyone using the service can do so in a safe way.

Today’s report follows another from last week that gave us a preview of what to expect from the Meta Quest 3. According to that report, Meta is bringing the full-color mixed reality experience from the Meta Quest Pro to its third-generation consumer-focused headset.