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HebaM98 It was removed because in a 9 month period up to near the end of 2022,, nearly 4 years ago, number of users dropped from 300,000 to 200,000. Now it's probably well under 100,000. It was losing too much money. When you consider that Google dropped their G+ social media app when the user numbers went below 100 million, it's a miracle that the total failure that is Worlds wasn't dumped way back in 2023 when they must have realised it was a total dud. Gaming is the core part of the VR experience. Think about it logically. If Worlds was a core part of the VR experience, it would have had millions of users, not such a small number that it would only fill one football stadium.
It is a core experience if its made available to all regions, yet they have limited it to specific regions and specific quest devices. For example quests 2 users are not allowed to access it at all as well as Middle East and Africa regions. That is exactly why they are losing their users. They sell their devices in the middle east and on the other hand they dont give any acess to this type of feature for example even an arabic keyboard we dont have! Of course they are going to lose users.
HebaM98 With all due respect, Worlds is not a core experience. Gaming is the core experience.. Of an estimated 20 million Quest headset users, 100k estimated users of Worlds represents 0.5% of all users. That isn't core, it's just a sideline. In fact it's not even that. It's totally immaterial and I'm surprised it's still even available. A core experience implies that the vast majority of users are involved in that experience. The Worlds user base would just fill one large football stadium. It was Worlds that was losing customers as gamers were sick of looking at it and were moving to gaming focused headsets. The question is, what customers do you want to keep? The 99.5% of users who want a gaming headset.........or the 0.5% who want a social app? I know what I would choose, and it's obviously what Meta choose. As for an Arabic keyboard,it will only happen when an Arabic speaking country becomes an officially supported country. None of them are. I'm based in Türkiye, this is not an officially supported country and there is no Turkish language keyboard either. It is understandable that they will only support the languages of countries that are part of the 24 or 25 officially supported countries. Only those countries have warranty protection and all headsets bought in other countries are not officially supported devices. If 0.5% who stop using the headset because Worlds is gone, Meta won't notice and the 99.5% will be happier not to have the unnecessary bloatware on their headsets. Remember, numbers don't lie, and the numbers support the termination of Worlds in due course.
Thats your opinion but it doesn’t represents everyone. Just look at how many people are against this decision, not to mention the users who didn’t even know about the update or don’t know how to share their opinion. At the end of the day people use VR differently some for gaming, others for social interaction and some for both.
Meta made it seem like Horizon Worlds was going to be a big step forward for their virtual reality headset and their company as a whole. But apparently they didn’t developed the way it should (I haven’t use it but i’m following what you said) and thats the real problem it had A LOT OF POTENTIAL and could have been a strong way to promote their headsets if they actually committed to combining VR with both gaming and social experiences.
Regarding the Arabic keyboard, actually arabic is one of the most spoken languages globally! And most companies like sony, apple, samsung..etc already support it! Meta promotes diversity and social interaction then at least put Arabic keyboard. Its not a small audience so not supporting it isn’t because they can’t, its because they chose not to.
Even here in America I know several people who speak Arabic. When I went back to school for my psychology degree (to be a trauma and cptsd therapist) I made a lot of friends from around the world and several come from Arabic speaking backgrounds. Its a common language in the middle east, parts of asia, parts of africa, and through migration all over europe and, the united states, and canada. Its a VERY common language with a rich cultural history behind it. Arabic culture is widespread and diverse, and Arabic is one of the most spoken languages in the world. Its highly inapropriate to exclude it.
And yeah, I 100% agree. The Metaverse has major potential to be a mainstream VR draw for normal people, for gamers and non gamers, for families, for remote workers, and so on. The thing is they havent figured out how to directly monetize it and arent familiar with the concept of indirectly monetizing something. Its missmanagement. I WANT Meta to succeed and do well. Im afraid that selling off most of their VR game studios, closing down all of their unique features, and delaying the launch of their next gen hardware is just a losing strategy if they plan to keep any of their marketshare once Steam hits the shelves. Its bad business. Am I upset because something I use and other people use is going away? Oh heck yes. But its also not smart. If they want to stay in the business they need to not close all their best studios. Did you know they closed the studio that just launched Deadpool? Thats what they are doing right now. Pulling all their funding from VR. This is bad for everyone who owns a Meta headset. Regardless of what the person likes to do with it.
I just want to clarify one point you made incorrectly. Meta do not sell their devices in the Middle East, or in Türkiye where I am or in any unsupported regions . Third party unofficial sellers are buying these devices in supported countries, mostly Europe, and selling them in unsupported countries. I have a business residence in Germany. I bought my headset there and took it to Istanbul. If I wanted warranty replacement I would have to bring my headset back to Stuttgart and apply from there.
I live in the Middle East specifically in Sausi Arabia, and I bought my oculus quest from a store here, what do you mean they dont sell it? They actually do..
[Edit: personal attack]
Now. That said. You deserve for the product you purchase to do what is promised when you purchased it. Period, full stop, without exceptions. The PS3 is still fully supported nearly 20 years later despite not making money. Thats what gamers expect in the modern videogame industry and it is considered industry standard. Not because companies are good people, but because they know what parasocial relationships are. A parasocial relationship is when customers like a company and project an emptional bond, a fondness, a brand loyalty, and thus invest in that brand and their ecosystem for decades. Thats how videogame console companies frame their business models. Once broken or betrayed that parasocial relationship usually never recovers, so its the most important factor for sales and customer growth. Meta isnt really well managed and doesnt see itself as a videogame console company, so they dont act like one. Steam does, and does, so the new Steam VR headset is really scary to Meta ceos and they are making a lot of panicked decisions as a result. The fallout is likely to be bad for EVERYONE who owns a meta headset. Meta closed the studios that made Deadpool, Assassins Creed, and a bunch of other games of theirs. They dont know what theyre doing right now, theyre just scared. So people like you and I are going to get hurt in that fallout. Which sucks and Im sorry thats happening to you.
For what its worth. There is an avid Quest 3 modding community and while Im not sure they can fix any of your problems there is a chance that they can address issues like your keyboard and some other user interface stuff. Ive modded my unit substantially, and it isnt very hard to do. If you have any questions about that Id be happy to help, though I cant promise that whats out there currently will solve your problems. Still, trying is better than not trying in my book. Let me know if you want help with that.
And seriously. Im sorry for your loss. That sucks man.
Thats rough buddy. Im sorry for your loss and hope something goes your way soon. They shouldnt sell you something and not support it equally to other regions.
