The archive

Platforms that went dark

Social VR platforms that shut down or stopped being VR platforms, newest first, with the date each one ended and where its people went.
Still running, not as they were

Pivoted or winding down

Left VR · 2026

Meta Horizon Worlds

Launched on Quest in December 2021. In 2026 Meta moved it to phones and the web. Since 15 June 2026 nobody can build, publish or update VR worlds, though existing ones still open in the Quest app.

Background on Wikipedia
Creator tiers ended · 27 Jul 2026

Spatial

Started in 2017 as a HoloLens meeting app, then became a hub for user-made worlds on the web, phones and VR. It ended its free and Pro creator tiers in July 2026 to focus on enterprise customers and its own games.

UploadVR report
In liquidation · Sep 2026

ENGAGE

A VR platform for education and events from Immersive VR Education, on PC VR and Quest since 2016. A liquidator was appointed on 15 September 2026. No shutdown date had been announced.

The XR Beat report
Shut down

Gone, newest first

Closed 1 Jun 2026

Rec Room

Ten years of cross-platform rooms and player-made games on PC VR, Quest, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and phones, with more than 150 million players. It was valued at $3.5 billion in 2021. Snap bought some of its assets when it closed.

Background on Wikipedia
Closed 1 Dec 2025

Microsoft Mesh

Microsoft's workplace avatars and 3D events, which replaced AltspaceVR. It reached general availability in January 2024. Teams Premium immersive events took its place, with 16 people per session instead of 330.

Background on Wikipedia
Closed 10 Oct 2025

vTime XR

Billed itself as the first cross-reality social network, launched in 2015 and used by 1.4 million people. It went offline the same day it announced closure, citing a Unity security flaw it could not patch.

vTime's farewell
Cloud closed 20 Aug 2025

NeosVR

Frooxius's build-anything platform, released in 2018. Its cloud services shut down and it left Steam, leaving only local and LAN play. Most of its team went on to make Resonite.

Background on Wikipedia
Mozilla era ended 31 May 2024

Mozilla Hubs

Browser-based social rooms that Mozilla launched in 2018. Mozilla closed its service and handed the code to the community Hubs Foundation, which still runs it.

Road to VR report
Closed Feb 2024

Anyland

A PC VR world where everything, avatars included, was built by hand in-world. Closed when the budget ran out. Community servers have revived it.

Shutdown announcement
Closed 1 Aug 2023

Echo VR

Ready At Dawn's zero-gravity arena sport, whose lobby was a social space in its own right. Meta shut its servers down. A community service revived it.

UploadVR report
Closed 10 Mar 2023

AltspaceVR

One of the first big social VR spaces, known for live events and comedy nights. It nearly closed in 2017 before Microsoft bought it, and Microsoft closed it in favour of Mesh.

UploadVR report
Standalone app closed 6 Jun 2022

Oculus Venues

Live concerts, sport and comedy watched together in VR. Its events moved into Horizon Worlds.

UploadVR report
Closed 21 Feb 2022

Tivoli Cloud VR

A High Fidelity fork. When it shut down it published its full codebase and pointed its users to Overte.

Ryan Schultz's report
Closed Jan 2020

High Fidelity

Philip Rosedale's open-source virtual worlds, from the founder of Second Life. The company dropped its apps and turned to spatial audio. Its code lives on in Overte.

Hypergrid Business report
Closed 25 Oct 2019

Facebook Spaces

Cartoon avatars on Rift and Vive for video calls and selfies with Facebook friends. Closed to make way for Horizon.

UploadVR report
Closed 25 Oct 2019

Oculus Rooms

A shared virtual apartment on Gear VR and Oculus Go for watching media and playing games. Closed on the same day as Facebook Spaces.

Road to VR report
VR viewer withdrawn Jul 2016

Second Life

Second Life itself is still running. Linden Lab's official Oculus Rift viewer was withdrawn for poor quality and never replaced.

Report on the withdrawal
Development stopped c. 2016

Convrge

One of the first social spaces for the Rift development kits, where early adopters met to watch launches and talk shop. Its developers stopped work for personal and financial reasons.

Voices of VR interview