Mark Zuckerberg promises ‘major updates’ to Horizon avatars after his is widely mocked

Mark Zuckerberg says that Meta has “major updates” planned for its VR graphics after previously sharing an image of his own VR avatar that was widely mocked. He said the company would share about the changes at its upcoming Connect conference.

Zuckerberg’s update comes several days after a screenshot from Horizon Worlds, the company’s social VR environment, went viral on Twitter. 

The images were originally shared last week alongside an announcement that Horizon Worlds was launching in France and Spain. The screenshot showed a nearly featureless Zuckerberg avatar in front of a VR Eiffel Tower and Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia. The image quickly took on a life of its own on Twitter as people mocked the low-res and amateur-looking graphics. In particular, many questioned why Zuckerberg’s avatar was so flat and lifeless when the company has spent billions of dollars and staked its future on the success of the metaverse.

Though Zuckerberg didn’t directly address the critiques, he acknowledged the image he had previously shared was “pretty basic,” and promised improvements. His latest post included two new, much more detailed and lifelike renders: his avatar and an outdoor scene depicting ancient ruins.

“I know the photo I posted earlier this week was pretty basic — it was taken very quickly to celebrate a launch,” Zuckerberg wrote. “The graphics in Horizon are capable of much more — even on headsets — and Horizon is improving very quickly.”