Facebook is opening its virtual reality virtual reality world, Horizon World, to anyone 18 and older in the U.S. and Canada.
provided by Meta
Vivek Sharma, vice president of Meta’s Horizon social media virtual reality software, is leaving the company, a spokesman said Friday.
For the past six years, Sharma has been with Facebook’s parent company Meta, holding senior positions in marketing and gaming, and most recently in its nascent Metaverse-related business unit.
As Horizon’s vice president, the Seattle-area-based Sharma oversees various VR projects, such as the Horizon Worlds social media service, which is similar to Second Life, an online game that’s been revamped for virtual reality. Other Horizon products include Horizon Workrooms, a VR-based workplace collaboration app, and the Horizon Venues app for live events, which moved into the core Worlds app this summer.
“Thanks to his leadership, the Horizon product group has built a strong team with an ambitious vision, and this is just the beginning,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “Meta remains a source of great leaders, and we’re excited to see what Vivek has accomplished in his next chapter.”
The spokesperson added that the Horizon team will now report directly to Vishal Shah, Metaverse VP at Meta.
Meta sees the metaverse as the collection of digital worlds that people can access through VR and related augmented reality technologies, representing the next frontier in computing.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on a recent episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that his company will launch a new VR headset in October, the month when Meta typically holds its Connect VR conference .
watch: What is the Metaverse and why does it cost billions of dollars?
