To have any hope of making its Horizon Worlds VR social network catch on, Meta has to give potential users a reason to go (and stay) there. Its latest attempt to do that is something called “quests” that lets users complete in-game missions to earn (virtual) swag like clothing, the company announced in an update spotted by The Verge.
The feature (which doesn’t appear related to the Quest headset branding) is in beta testing via a game called Giant Mini Paddle Golf. “Those in the test group will see a new ‘Quests’ icon in their Identity Panel, which will open the new quests board to show 6 quests (e.g. Get a Hole-in-one) and the rewards to be earned (e.g. Sea Captain Costume). With one click, travel to the world to get started,” according to the description. Meta plans to roll it out to more users over time.
While limited to just a single experience for now, it’s easy to imagine Meta offering quests in other corners of Horizon Worlds as a way to give Quest VR headset users more to do. Last month, the company said it planned to release 20 new Horizon experiences built by third-party studios, so perhaps the quests feature will be part of these.
The Horizon Worlds user base was reportedly around 200,000 at the end of 2022, well short of the goal it originally set. Meta recently announced plans to open Horizon Worlds up to children between 13-17 years old, prompting criticism from two US senators concerned over Meta’s track record on protecting younger users.
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