• by Colin Kirkland , July 13, 2023

In a push to expand its virtual reality gaming offerings and support its metaverse ambitions, Meta is bringing the popular gaming and world-building platform Roblox to its Meta Quest headsets. An open beta via App Lab will be rolling out in the coming weeks. 

Alongside other online worlds like Fortnite and Minecraft, Roblox has become a popular space for younger gamers to hang out and socialize. 

Just over 66 million users log into Roblox every day across desktops, Xbox, both iOS and Android mobile devices, with VR support through PC-based headsets, letting users play on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Valve Index. 

Soon, the app will be available for download on the Meta Quest Store, accessible on Meta Quest 2, Quest Pro and, when it drops this fall, Meta’s Quest 3 headset. 

According to Meta, the open beta will provide an opportunity for the Roblox developer community to “optimize their existing games for Quest and build new ones for VR while gathering input and feedback from the Quest community” before the app’s full release. 

“Roblox is automatically publishing some experiences that use default player scripts to support VR devices,” Meta wrote in a blog post. “They’ve found that those experiences typically run well in VR without modifications.” 

With over 15 million “active experiences” on Roblox, players should have a wide variety of virtual activities to choose from, especially since this Quest version of Roblox supports cross-platform play, allowing users to enter experiences with users on Xbox, mobile and desktop. 

Gaming worlds like Roblox are a key piece of Meta’s envisioned metaverse, which the company has said will take at least a decade to come to fruition. With this new generation of people already accustomed to socializing in virtual spaces, immersive gaming environments will likely become more normalized, sought after and successful for reaching consumers. 

This thinking aligns with Meta’s recent decision to lower the age requirements for its VR headsets, while inviting its users to conduct video calls on Instagram and Messenger through their Meta avatars.