Facebook Announces Horizon, a Massive-Multiplayer VR World

Facebook and Amazon forgot to swap schedules in advance, because both were competing for the "I'm making a big product announcement" spotlight Wednesday. Well, we've got room for both.

In San Jose, Facebook and Oculus announced Horizon, a large-scale, multiplayer VR world. Launching early 2020 in closed beta, Horizon will offer users the chance to consume media, play games, and interact with one another through digital avatars. For now, none of the avatars have legs. Think of it as a very early stage of Ready Player One, just without legs.

Horizon will have human guides to ensure bad apples don't harass or troll users, behavior that's common in video game culture and, uh, certain social media platforms.

Bottom line: VR is still waiting for its big moment. Zuckerberg and Co. think Oculus headsets and Horizon will steer adoption and make VR the next big platform for social interaction. "I said before that VR is going to be bigger than people realize," Zuck told Cnet.