Thursday, 18 September, 2025 UTC
Summary
Meta Horizon Engine replaces the Unity runtime of Horizon Worlds, and Meta says it brings 4x faster loading and 100+ user instances.
During Meta Connect 2025 today, Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Meta has spent "the last couple of years" building the new engine "from scratch".
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Mark Zuckerberg announces Meta Horizon Engine.
"This engine is fully optimized for bringing the metaverse to life. It is much faster performance and to load things, much better graphics, much easier to create with", Zuckerberg claimed.
"It's more like loading a webpage than loading an entire new game," he boasted of the improved loading speed.
Zuckerberg revealed that Horizon Engine already shipped in Quest v81 PTC's overhauled home system, set to roll out to the stable channel of Horizon OS soon.
Quest v81 PTC Completely Overhauls Your VR Home
Meta Horizon OS v81 PTC overhauls Quest’s VR home system, replacing all previous environments with a high-quality loft with free locomotion.
UploadVRDavid Heaney
Horizon Engine seems to be rolling out on a world-by-world basis, with the new Horizon Central that you teleport to from the new home being an example, as well as the new Horizon Arena for events.