It’s true, screenshots of Horizon Worlds don’t always look as bad as what Zuckerberg shared earlier this week. But that’s also part of what made it so baffling; why is that what the company leader is showing off? At the same time, Horizon Worlds still doesn’t look nearly as good as what you can find in other VR offerings.

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Many will say it’s about making sure Meta’s Quest hardware, which is priced for the average consumer, can handle tons of people at once. But there’s performance, and then there’s artistry. The thing everyone was responding to was what appeared to be a bleak lack of soul. We all know it doesn’t take a huge polygon count to make something look good, otherwise we wouldn’t remember retro games nearly as fondly as we do. The Eiffel Tower is supposed to be a significant cultural artifact, but you wouldn’t glean that from the VR version at all. The digital version isn’t inspirational, unless we’re trying to evoke a burp. It’s not even particularly pretty. What is the point?

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Meta as a company leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths already, so seeing them strong-arm their way into VR dominance with endless oodles of cash while appearing to have little care for the spirit of this thing that’s supposed to be our exciting technological future? That is what makes people jump when pastel Zucc doesn’t blink.

Anyway, better graphics! Woo.