Source: Wired
From concerts and cooking to parades and beyond, Horizon Venues is your one-stop to entertainment in VR.
When Meta (previously Facebook) unveiled its vision for the metaverse, it gave the public a sneak peek into the future of entertainment and connectivity. Meta presents endless opportunities to work, play, connect with others and do more.
After the rebranding, Meta launched Horizon, a social platform focused on helping people create and interact with one another in the metaverse.
Horizon Venues, previously known as Venues, is one of the first generation offerings of Horizon alongside some of its flagship products, including Horizon Home, Horizon Workrooms, and Horizon Worlds.
According to the Meta promotional video, Horizon Venues represents the “next level of events,” essentially a meeting way to host events using today’s advancing technology. With the development of Meta and an advancing metaverse, no stone is left unturned as Meta pushes for a revolution in how people connect.
Horizon Venues is a step towards that vision and guarantees users the best seats in the house, both literally and figuratively. It’s like acquiring your favorite spot at a sports game or theater show with a nearly life-like experience. The idea behind Horizon Venues isn’t just about providing high-quality experiences but also making them affordable for everyone who wants to enjoy live concert halls without breaking their budget!
It is a digital experience powered by advanced technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality. The technology allows people to be virtually present anywhere they want to be, for instance, joining an Ed Sheeran concert from home and being able to buy virtual merchandise and hanging out with real people, friends, and peers from the comfort of one’s home. This can all be done through Horizon Venues and a Quest VR headset.
Although the technology is still in development, the beta version is available for testing and exclusive access to Horizon Venues using your Oculus Quest 2 headsets and Facebook profile.
Users can also keep track of upcoming events and set reminders on their calendars using the event list for Horizon Venues.
Horizon Venues is an entertainment flagship with interoperability at its core. It simply aligns with Mark Zuckerberg’s vision in his Facebook Connect 2021 keynote presentation. “When Meta launched Horizon as a part of the metaverse, we planned to create interconnected virtual spaces where people can socialize seamlessly. A space where users can jump from one virtual space to another with just their headsets on.”
Further, Meta encourages developers to use immersive experiences by designing compatible products and engineering innovative technologies.
Take, for instance, the Presence Platform, a collection of AI capabilities and machine perception. The Presence Platform features Spatial Anchors, Passthrough, and Scene Understanding to help developers create physical world simulations.
Using these features, developers can build mixed reality and voice experiences to blend the virtual world with tangible aspects. The spatial audio component, for instance, can be a powerful tool if integrated with Horizon Venues.
