Meta formerly Facebook is shutting down the VR version of Horizon Worlds on June 15, 2026. The app gets yanked from Quest headsets starting late March, and after June it’s VR-only worlds are gone entirely, shifting to a mobile-only experience.
They’ve burned $80 billion on Reality Labs since 2020 with basically nothing to show for it in terms of mainstream adoption. Zuckerberg’s big promise was to hit a billion monthly visitors. Instead, Horizon Worlds topped out at a couple hundred thousand active users a month at its peak—nowhere near the scale needed.
Meanwhile Roblox is sitting at around 380 million monthly active users in 2026, with tens of millions playing every day. It’s not even close. The core problem wasn’t the idea of a metaverse—persistent virtual worlds where you hang out, build stuff, and socialize. It was the execution: clunky VR hardware, empty worlds, weird avatars, and forcing everyone into headsets when most people just wanted to chill on their phone or PC.
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Imagine a massive, living open world where you: Live a full second life; roleplay, own virtual property, run businesses. Meet and hang with real people from anywhere. Actually earn real-world money through player-driven economies; selling custom cars, clothes, events, or user-generated experiences.
We’re already seeing pieces of this in successful games: Roblox does it best right now—creators build entire worlds, host concerts, roleplay servers, etc., and top devs cash out millions via their developer exchange (Robux ? real money).
Fortnite throws massive in-game events, has creator islands, and a huge economy. GTA Online already has a thriving black-market economy and roleplay servers where people “live” as cops, criminals, etc., but Rockstar doesn’t let you cash out directly yet. There’s real buzz that GTA 6 Online is being built with exactly this in mind.
Rockstar has been rumored to be pushing hard on user-generated content (UGC), creator tools, and a proper marketplace where in-game items and currency could translate to real earnings—basically turning it into “the next big metaverse platform” with millions of players already primed from GTA 5.
If they nail the creator economy and make it seamless; no crypto rug-pulls, just straightforward play-to-earn that actually works, it could blow past everything Meta tried. The winning formula seems to be: start with a killer game that millions already love, then layer on persistent worlds, social features, and real ownership and earnings.
Not “build a empty metaverse and hope people show up.” Meta’s VR bet flopped because it was all tech-first. Games like Roblox and potentially GTA 6 are doing it right: fun-first, accessible, and letting players create the magic. If GTA 6 delivers on even half of the metaverse-style rumors, we’re about to see virtual worlds that actually feel alive—and where regular people can make a living inside them.
The GTA 6 metaverse rumors have been swirling since early 2025, mostly centered on Rockstar Games’ ambitions to turn GTA VI and especially its online component into something far bigger than a traditional game—a persistent, creator-driven platform with strong “metaverse” vibes, similar to Roblox or Fortnite but with GTA’s mature, chaotic edge.
The core of these rumors kicked off with a February 2025 Digiday report widely cited across gaming outlets like VGC, PCGamesN, and others. It claimed Rockstar has held discussions with top creators from Roblox, Fortnite, and the existing GTA community about enabling user-generated content (UGC) in GTA 6.
This would let creators modify environments, assets, and experiences—potentially bringing in their own IPs, brand sponsors, custom missions, events, or even full sandbox worlds inside Vice City and beyond. Allowing players and creators to build and share their own game modes, similar to Fortnite Creative or Roblox studios.
A Creator Economy
Revenue sharing from virtual item sales, in-game purchases, or monetized experiences; think Robux-style payouts but for GTA.
Project ROME (Rockstar Online Modding Engine) — This popped up in reports around early 2025 as an internal initiative to power official UGC, possibly replacing or building on the FiveM framework (which Rockstar acquired in 2023 to legitimize RP servers).
Ongoing updates adding new areas, live events, and player-created content to keep the game alive for decades, turning it into a “living metaverse” where people hang out, roleplay, run virtual businesses, and earn real money.
Some wilder speculation ties it to MMORPG-like features, AI citizens, or even a digital currency—but those lean more into hype/YouTube speculation than solid leaks.
Rockstar’s acquisition of FiveM/Cfx.re; the team behind popular GTA RP mods is often pointed to as evidence they’re serious about official support for custom servers and UGC, aiming for an “adult Roblox” where mature themes fit naturally.As of March 2026, though, none of this has been officially confirmed by Rockstar.
GTA 6 remains on track for its Fall 2025 release window with some speculation around a big reveal or trailer push in early 2026 based on database entries and GTA Online update pauses, but details on online features are still under wraps. The rumors feel plausible given industry trends—Roblox/Fortnite have proven massive creator economies work, and GTA Online already has huge roleplay communities.
But Rockstar tends to keep things locked down tight until they’re ready. If they pull it off without the clunkiness that killed Meta’s Horizon push, it could be massive: millions living a second life in a hyper-detailed Vice City, creating concerts, heists, RP cities, and actually cashing out. Way more grounded and fun than VR headsets required.