A year ago, my education rep at Meta acknowledged past missteps, saying, “Mark’s trying to make right with the education sector and win back trust.” Last week, that trust was shattered.
While prepping 40 Quest 3 headsets for an event, I received an email from ArborXR the popular third-party management platform I chose over Quest for Business. Despite my active contract with them, I was informed that continued use of their services would now require an additional payment to Meta for its new Horizon Managed Services (HMS) licenses—effectively rendering my existing licenses useless unless I paid thousands more. Other vendors, including ManageXR issued similar statements, all signaling the same message: Meta had implemented a mandatory paywall for managing headsets, blindsiding institutions like mine.
With only 24 hours before deployment, my team had to factory reset all 40 headsets and reconfigure them from scratch. We pulled it off, and the event was a success. But this experience has fundamentally changed my stance on VR in education. I once saw it as uncertain and unproven; now, I see it as unpredictable and, at times, even risky for institutions that invest in the technology without clear long-term assurances.
Despite continued missteps made by commercial interests, I believe VR still has a role and pedagogical value in education. Nevertheless, VR companies need the education sector—the education sector doesn’t need VR. I’m actively in discussions with colleagues across higher ed and K-12 to navigate this shifting landscape. If you’ve been affected by the HMS rollout, let’s connect and share thoughts and experiences.
