Horizon Worlds VR Launches First Next-Gen Title ‘Super Rumble’
Meta has introduced a fresh game called Super Rumble for Horizon Worlds, which stands out from other games available on the social VR application. Formerly known as Titanborne during its beta phase, Super Rumble is the inaugural game developed by Meta’s in-house studio, Ouro Interactive. This release could potentially mark a new era for the Horizon Worlds platform, characterized by enhanced graphics and more intricate gameplay. Vishal Shah, Meta’s VP of Metaverse, referred to the shooter as “more than just a new world” and described it as the “next generation of Horizon Worlds” in an interview with Janko Roettgers of Lowpass.
Roettgers said everyone he played the beta with “seemed amazed at the fidelity the game offered.” Apparently that’s because it was built using imported items, resources, and textures, which wasn’t possible before. Shah said Meta rebuilt the technology behind the VR platform to support higher-quality games and allow developers to import assets created with third-party tools. The company reportedly allowed Ouro and select partners to use the import feature so they could develop new Horizon Worlds games to be released over the next six months.
Shah told Lowpass that the company’s metaverse team has been working on improvements to Horizon Worlds over the past year. “When consumers come to Horizon, we want to make sure they find a bunch of compelling content on day one. We’re going to seed the ecosystem, launch it with stuff that we’re building both ourselves and with some of the studios we’re partnering with,” he said.
In addition to building an improved version of the platform, the Horizon team has apparently also developed a mobile application. They had reportedly stopped creating one a year ago, but weren’t happy with the result, so they decided to rebuild it. Super Rumble is one of the first games to be available when the mobile app is released, and Shah said it will be multi-platform.
A cross-platform mobile app can help Meta reach new audiences who can’t afford or aren’t interested enough to purchase a VR headset. The company’s VR business unit, Reality Labs, posted an operating loss of $3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2023. Overall, the division has lost $21 billion since the start of 2022 and had to shelve some projects last year. A mobile app could make Horizon Worlds more accessible, which in turn could lead to more revenue.
Shah’s team has also been working on other improvements to the VR platform, including investing in creative AI tools. The idea is to give more creators the opportunity to build new worlds, even if they don’t know how to use professional 3D tools. However, he didn’t tell Lowpass when the mobile app or generative AI tools will be available, so we’ll have to wait for their official announcements.
