Meta’s Metaverse Gets a Major Visual Upgrade
▼ Summary
– Meta is upgrading Horizon Worlds with a new game engine for better graphics and performance, plus a Meta Horizon Studio for creators.
– Meta Horizon Studio is an editor that enables creators to build VR worlds, with existing generative AI tools for assets like textures and audio.
– An AI assistant will be added to the editor later this year to help creators through conversational requests, such as modifying environments or NPCs.
– The Horizon Engine powers these improvements, offering enhanced graphics, faster performance, and greater concurrency in VR worlds.
– Despite expanding to mobile, Horizon Worlds has not gained broad adoption, leading Meta to incentivize creators with a $50 million fund.
Meta’s social platform Horizon Worlds is receiving a significant visual overhaul, introducing a new game engine and a suite of creator tools aimed at enhancing the user experience. These upgrades mark a substantial step forward in the platform’s development, focusing on richer graphics and more immersive virtual environments.
The newly announced Meta Horizon Studio serves as an editor enabling creators to build custom VR worlds. Generative AI tools are already available for producing textures and audio, with plans to integrate an AI assistant into the editor later this year. During a recent demonstration, a developer interacted conversationally with an AI chatbot to request environmental changes and adjust the personality of an AI-driven non-player character, showcasing the tool’s intuitive capabilities.
Underpinning these advancements is the Horizon Engine, designed to deliver superior graphics, faster performance, and support for more users in shared virtual spaces. Meta emphasizes that the engine allows for “much greater concurrency,” meaning more people can interact simultaneously within the same digital environment.
Despite expanding from VR to mobile platforms, Horizon Worlds has yet to achieve widespread adoption. In an effort to attract more creators, Meta launched a $50 million creators fund earlier this year, incentivizing the development of engaging metaverse content. These investments reflect the company’s ongoing commitment to establishing a vibrant ecosystem around its virtual world ambitions.
(Source: The Verge)
