Since Altspace shut down, I’ve been thinking about the status of other platforms. There are still many social VR platforms. Some of these platforms have an active player base, but it seems like most rarely have players. It’s hard to see platforms like Mozilla Hubs, Alakazam, or MeetinVR getting tons of daily users. Those platforms seem to be good for specific uses. And there is something to say about how good a platform is for specific scenarios. A platform could have no active users, but be a great tool for specific events or meetings. I felt AltSpace did that great.

There are some platforms that I would consider dead. Obviously AltSpace and High Fidelity are two platforms that have been shut down. Those are clearly dead. But those two platforms were really solid in my opinion. They just didn’t have the player base.  It seems they were just beat out by VRChat. Another platform that fits in this category is Sansar. Sansar is still active, but rarely gets players populating it. It doesn’t seem like a bad platform, but I think something like VRChat does it way better. The other platforms that are still active, but dead, in my opinion are the crypto platforms. Decentral land, Sandbox, Gala, and other platforms like this were very gimmicky from the beginning, acted as a cash grab, and have always been buggy. While they currently still exist, no one plays them. At least not a significant number that would give these platforms the value they claim to have.

Active Platforms

Here are some platforms that are still going strong:

1. VRChat – Sometimes up to 50,000 people are playing VRChat. Huge active community that is great for socializing. A true social VR experience.
2. Rec Room – A games oriented social VR experience, targeted to a younger audience. Thousands play regularly and is another great social VR experience.
3. Horizon World – hugely pushed by Meta, Horizon worlds is another active platform. They don’t get the numbers like Rec Room or VRChat, but they offer almost the same experience of both those platforms.
4. Big Screen – They just moved into creating VR Hardware, Big Screen is a great platform where you can watch TV and movies with strangers. It’s another great platform.
5. NeoVR – Neos has found their niche. Hundreds play regularly and their platform gives more freedom to creators more than any other platform.

There are more platforms than what I’ve discussed here. But these are the major players I think. Each one of these platforms offer something a bit different. Horizon World’s is the only one that feels forced on this list. They kind of copy what VRChat and Rec Room have set a standard for and they use their huge marketing budget to get players in. If it wasn’t for the marketing and Meta’s hardware, I don’t think they would be nearly as popular. Altspace was focused on presentations and events, so I feel like they could still compete if Microsoft wanted to, but clearly they don’t think it’s worth it.