At Meta Connect 2026 on September 24, Meta announced two AI game creation tools: Horizon Create and Horizon Studio. The former is a mobile app, while the latter is a browser tool. Both are built on the agentic creation capabilities of Meta Horizon Engine, allowing users to describe game concepts in natural language, and the system can then generate complete 2D or 3D games including progression systems, difficulty balancing, art style, and multiplayer connectivity.
Horizon Create: Type a sentence on your phone, and AI builds a complete game for you.
Horizon Create’s workflow is intuitive: users open the app, describe the game they want to make in natural language, and the system starts building. You can start from a blank canvas or choose from ready-made templates provided by Meta, and both paths produce a complete, directly publishable game.
【速報】Meta、スマホで頼むだけでゲームが完成するAI「Horizon Create」発表
・「村が見える冒険ゲーム」と打つと3Dゲームが完成
・「雪の世界にして」の一言で作り替え
・公開作はInstagram/Facebookで即プレイ発表日のUnity株は終値-6.1%
AIゲーム制作はRoblox vs Metaの対決へ
映像: Meta公式 pic.twitter.com/PNaUJv6mCC— TORA (@TORA276990) September 25, 2026
Meta Horizon VP Saxs Persson said at the launch event: “You have a game idea, open the app, describe the game you want to make in your own words, and the system will start building it with you.” He emphasized that the output is “not a sketch, not a prototype,” but playable 2D and 3D games with real depth. After that, any adjustment only takes one prompt: reimagine the environment, change characters, add quests or levels, adjust difficulty. The generation process can run in the background. After users describe the game concept, they can continue playing other games and come back to test when the notification arrives. The app supports multiple projects in parallel.
Horizon Studio provides fine-grained browser-based control, with no software installation and no gaming PC required. It combines natural language prompts with full visual editing: manually place scenes, swap individual assets from an asset library, adjust script parameters to change element behavior, and replan spatial layouts. A single prompt can simultaneously change a scene’s environment, characters, and lighting style.
Both tools share the same backend, so games created in Create can be brought into Studio for continued editing, with assets, systems, and iteration history preserved.
Jump straight from an Instagram post into multiplayer battles
Meta’s distribution strategy is the focus of this launch. Games published through Horizon Create or Studio will get native recommendations on Facebook and Instagram, letting players play directly in their feeds.
Meta’s official explanation: “Someone scrolls past your game video on Instagram, taps once, and can enter a multiplayer match within seconds—no need to download an app or be redirected to another page. Your game exists natively in the feed where people are already discovering content and connecting with friends.”
A game’s visibility depends on player retention: Meta says games that are “fun, stable, culturally relevant, and keep players coming back” will receive more recommendations, while those that aren’t will be deprioritized. On monetization, games can earn revenue through in-game purchases and the Meta Horizon Creator Fund; more monetization details have not yet been announced.
Horizon’s mobile-first transformation
Horizon was originally launched as a VR app, but Meta has clearly shifted its focus to mobile in recent years. Horizon’s monthly active users on mobile grew more than fourfold in 2025, and mobile-only game worlds increased from zero to more than 2,000. By February 2026, four creators had each earned more than $1 million, and nearly 100 creators earned six-figure incomes in 2025.
At the same Meta Connect event, Meta also unveiled VR Glasses, weighing only one-fifth as much as Quest 3, with no head strap or heavy hardware, featuring a 5K infinite display with micro-OLED panels, supporting Unity 6.6 via OpenXR, and existing Quest projects can be migrated directly. Studios such as Animal Repair Shop, Schell Games, and Marvelous Inc. are already developing games for VR Glasses. VR Glasses is expected to launch in spring 2027, priced at $1,299.99 (about NT$41,000).
This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for 🔥
Meta just announced its new VR Glasses. Basically an Apple Vision Pro-like experience, but MUCH smaller and lighter.
• Only 100g
• Micro-OLED displays
• Snapdragon Reality Elite
• Eye + hand tracking
• External compute/battery… pic.twitter.com/Qs8zXDJXHn— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) September 23, 2026
Meta’s launch had an immediate impact on the gaming industry chain. Yahoo Finance reported that Unity Software (NYSE:U) fell 5%, while Roblox and AppLovin each dropped 1%. Meta is entering the simplified game development space, competing directly with Unity (game development software), Roblox (user-generated game platform), and AppLovin (mobile game marketing and monetization).
Facebook has about 3 billion users per month, and Meta has previously revealed that more than 250 million people have played games on Facebook. If AI-generated games can generate social appeal, Meta, with the scale of Facebook’s ecosystem, could cause structural disruption to the gaming industry.
Security Review and Early Access
Meta says all generated content is reviewed by content safety systems before reaching players, guardrails are built into the creation process, and games are reviewed before publication and distribution. Every published game receives an automatic age rating and is managed according to age classification. Youth protection measures, including parental supervision through Family Center, build on Horizon’s existing safety framework, which Meta says has been in operation on Facebook, Instagram, and Horizon for several years.
Currently, Horizon Create and Studio are being tested in the Meta creator community, broader access is coming soon, and the early access waitlist is now open for sign-ups.
Conclusion
Meta’s latest move compresses the barrier to game development from “months of work, expensive hardware, and specialized skills” to “typing a sentence on a phone.” Combined with distribution channels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta is trying to build a closed loop from creation to discovery to monetization. Whether AI-generated games can keep players coming back, or just become fleeting content in the feed, is what to watch next.
Source: KOCPC Chinese