The metaverse never became normal

RIP Horizon Worlds, at least as a mainstream cultural ambition.

All the hype, billions invested, endless keynote language about presence and the future of social connection, and it still never became normal behavior for most people. Horizon Worlds moving away from VR says a lot. So did the collapse of Horizon Workrooms as a meaningful remote-work category. The clearest signal is not that the technology failed to function. It is that it failed to become routine.

I was always sympathetic to the vision. I liked VR gaming. I could see the appeal of spatial interfaces and immersive environments. But something about wearing a headset for long stretches always felt off. I never got comfortable consuming media that way, and I definitely never felt persuaded that most people wanted to spend meaningful parts of their social life inside virtual rooms.

There is something fundamentally isolating about virtual worlds, even when they are trying to simulate connection.

People still prefer the natural form of other people, even if remotely. That is why Zoom, for all its limitations, still remains the default tool for remote meetings. It does not create presence in the sci-fi sense. It does something more important: it fits the existing behavior of work. You open a laptop, join a call, see faces, talk, leave. The friction is low enough that the habit survives.

VR never solved that friction problem. In fact, it added to it.

Headsets still carry a barrier to entry that prevents mass adoption. They are physically intrusive, socially awkward, and operationally demanding in ways phones and laptops are not. Even when the experience is impressive, the setup cost is too high for everyday use. That keeps VR in the zone where it has always been strongest: enthusiasts, gamers, and niche immersive experiences.

I do not say that dismissively. Niche categories can still be real categories. VR absolutely has a future in gaming, simulation, training, and certain high-intensity experiences. But that is different from becoming the default social layer of the internet. That broader metaverse dream never translated into ordinary consumer behavior.

AR has not exactly escaped the same gravity.

For years, augmented reality seemed like the more plausible path because it embraced the physical world instead of trying to replace it. But the category has struggled too. Adobe Aero was discontinued in late 2025. 8th Wall, once one of the most visible WebAR creation platforms, has moved away from hosted services. A number of AR startups have either narrowed, pivoted, or disappeared. The pattern is familiar: strong demos, weak daily habits, and a hardware ecosystem that still has not settled into something truly natural.

That is why I remain more hopeful about AI wearables and smart glasses than about full headsets. The form factor is simply more human. Glasses have a chance to integrate into daily life without demanding that users step out of the world around them. If the hardware gets powerful enough, and if the software becomes genuinely useful rather than theatrical, then real AR may still have a path.

That path probably does not look like the old metaverse pitch. It looks more ambient, more assistive, and less totalizing. It looks like intelligence layered onto the physical world instead of a virtual world asking to replace the physical one.

The future of immersive tech may still arrive.

It just may not arrive wearing a full headset.

Takeaways

• Zoom still wins remote meetings because it fits existing behavior better than VR ever did.
• VR remains meaningful, but mostly as a niche category for enthusiasts, gaming, and specialized experiences.
• The stronger long-term opportunity may be smart glasses and AI wearables that offer useful AR in a more natural form factor.