Meta Announces Updates for Horizon Worlds, Partners with Zoom and Microsoft Teams for VR Workspaces

Several updates regarding Metaverse were given by Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg at the company's Meta Connect event.

Horizon Worlds Adds Legs for Avatars

The CEO presented the newly improved avatars for Horizon Worlds, as reported by The Verge. This includes the addition of the legs of the Metaverse's avatars. According to him, several virtual reality systems do not have legs on their avatar as it was challenging to develop accurately, which is the reason why Meta only included it now, aside from it being the most requested feature on their roadmap.

Adding to this, legs are very tricky when it comes to occlusion. That's why Meta built an AI model to predict the position of the user's body. No dates were given by the CEO regarding the release of this newly updated feature, yet he stated that "more and more experiences over time as we improve our technology stack."

These include massive new avatar-related features as the company is currently exploring how to make its avatars more expressive and photorealistic as they represent the company's users, which is a real person outside of the Metaverse.

An avatar store in the virtual reality app will also be launched later this year, where users can shop for clothes and other accessories for their own avatars.

Metaverse on Reels

Meta will also bring Horizon Worlds to Facebook and Instagram Reels. TechCrunch reported that videos and other content can now be shared through the mentioned social media platforms, as the company announced at the same event.

According to the report, this new feature can spread awareness of the existence of Horizon Worlds for some people who are still not experiencing the Metaverse.

Horizon Workrooms

Alongside the updates regarding Horizon Worlds, Meta is also partnering with Zoom and Microsoft Teams as the company integrates the two workspaces into its own Horizon Workrooms. Engadget reported that people can set up a meeting that can happen through a virtual reality where their colleagues that have non-VR devices can also join.

During the event, Zuckerberg was joined by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella for the announcement of the partnership. The two also announced the collaboration of Windows 365 for the Quest Pro and Quest 2. Through this, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook content will now be viewable from the mentioned headsets.

Last year, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates predicted that most workers will be using the Metaverse to conduct virtual meetings as it is currently dominating every social media site. He stated, "I predict most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera image grids - which I call the 'Hollywood Squares model', although I know that probably dates me - to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars."

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Written by Inno Flores