Meta to Shut Down Platform for Third-Party Augmented Reality Effects

Meta said Tuesday (Aug. 27) that it will shut down Meta Spark, its platform offering third-party tools and content, on Jan. 14.

When the platform is shut down, the augmented reality (AR) effects built by third parties that it hosts will no longer be available, the company said in a Tuesday blog post.

Meta’s own AR Effects will continue to be available to users across the company’s apps, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger, according to FAQs released in conjunction with the post.

“This decision is part of our larger efforts to prioritize the products we believe will best serve the future needs of our consumers and business customers alike,” Meta said in the post.

The company added in the FAQs that it remains committed to AR and the metaverse.

“Meta is committed to our long-term investments in new computing platforms that will bring us beyond today’s 2D experiences on mobile,” it said in an FAQ. “With the decision to shut down the Meta Spark platform, we’re also shifting resources to the next generation of experiences, across new form factors like glasses.”

Those who use Spark and the third-party AR Effects can continue to do so until the shutdown of the platform, per the post. When Meta Spark goes away, users will no longer be able to add third-party AR Effects, but any content that has been posted to one of Meta’s social media platforms and uses AR Effects will not be affected, according to the FAQs.

Meta added in the post that it launched Meta Spark seven years ago, at a time when experiences involving AR were new to most consumers, and that it built up a community of creators, businesses and other stakeholders over that time.

“Since then, the imagination, innovation and creativity of our AR creator community has helped extend the reach of AR to hundreds of millions of people across Meta platforms,” the company said in the post.

During a July 31 earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he plans to incorporate more artificial intelligence capabilities into future generations of smart glasses and virtual reality (VR) headsets. He teased further announcements related to AI and metaverse developments at Meta’s upcoming Connect conference on Sept. 25-26.