Quest’s Leaked Theater Environment Hints at Meta Targeting Social VR Platform ‘Bigscreen’

Hey, so, here’s a wild thought—Meta, you know them, the folks always cooking up something in VR land, right? Well, back in January, they let slip this plan to whip up a theater vibe for Horizon OS. Picture watching stuff on this ginormous screen, like a real theater, right on your Quest. And guess what? Yeah, leaks are saying they’re throwing in some multiplayer mix too. Sounds a bit like Bigscreen, huh? You didn’t hear it from me, but let’s dive in.

So, the Quest? Got some theater-like pieces floating around. But, there’s no one-stop app to just ping your pals and dive into a watch party. Meta’s tried poking around with this idea, sort of like seeing if spaghetti sticks to the wall. Spoiler: it hasn’t quite stuck yet.

Mark Rabkin, random tidbit—he was leading the pack before he skedaddled from Meta, was hyped about this cinema space. He was all in with lighting, effects, and the whole immersive surround sound thing. No clue how far they’d go to bridge stuff like solo ‘Theater View’ and the Horizon World buzzfest with concerts and all that jazz.

Then, out of the blue, this user ‘lukegotbored’ (not making that up) accidentally steps into a work-in-progress scene on Quest. How’d he do it? No clue. Seems like Meta’s on a mission to channel some Bigscreen vibes, doing multiplayer watching shenanigans.

And there’s Luna, another leak fountain, who dished about some Meta smart glasses before. Luna’s whispering that this theater gig could drop with Horizon Worlds’ next hefty update. Got my popcorn ready. The clip shows them fiddling around with seats, hopping about like it’s nobody’s business, while catching a Hot Ones episode. Classic.

But, hold up—can Meta really match Bigscreen’s magic trick? Bigscreen lets you chill with heaps of streaming stuff, chill with Pluto TV, and even sneak in your own content for others. Can Meta mirror that? Big ask, right? Especially when it comes to the big scary ocean of content licensing. Bigscreen’s doing a neat dance, letting users manage the law stuff. Meta? Probably not too eager to walk that tightrope.

Oh, I almost lost my train of thought—let users stream on a massive scale? Meta’s execs might break into a sweat just thinking about it. Legal bits galore. Bigscreen? They kinda sidestep actively streaming sneaky stuff, but don’t exactly play content cop either. Meta, on the other hand, has been known to drop moderating ghosts in Horizon Worlds to keep everything clean and tidy.

And there’s this talk about making Meta’s theater a social hangout. You’re chilling in Horizon Worlds, got the feature right there, no extra app download fuss. Keeps folks from drifting away. Smart move? Perhaps.

Meta’s got a track record of taking others’ ideas for a spin. Remember Virtual Desktop by Guy Godin? It was THE thing for PC-to-VR mirroring in 2016. Meta kinda absorbed bits of it, folding on similar functions into Rift over time.

Fun twist—early 2021, Meta played hard to get with Virtual Desktop on Quest because of this wireless streaming jazz. But then, bam, turns around and grants it access. Only after they drop their own version though, Air Link. Sneaky or strategic? You tell me.

Oh, speaking of, Meta’s next gig, Connect 2025, is slotted for September 17th. Betting they’ll spill more beans there. Stay tuned, if you’re curious.

Catch you later.