Meta introduced Horizon Create and Horizon Studio at Meta Connect on 24 September 2026, Unite.AI reported. Meta says the tools, built on the Meta Horizon Engine, can turn a written idea into a complete 2D or 3D mobile game.
Key points
- Horizon Create is a standalone mobile app for building games from written descriptions.
- Horizon Studio adds visual editing in a browser, and projects can move between the two tools.
- Meta says published games can be distributed through Facebook, Instagram and Horizon.
- Both tools are in testing, with an early-access waitlist open.
Horizon Create starts with a description
Horizon Create is a standalone phone app. Meta says a creator can begin with an empty canvas or a template, describe the game in ordinary words and have the engine generate a playable build. The company says subsequent instructions can change the art style, characters, story and progression without requiring those elements to be rebuilt by hand.
The word “agentic” describes the job Meta assigns the engine: it takes a broad request and works through parts of the game, rather than producing only an image or a piece of text. Meta says that work can include progression systems, difficulty, art direction and multiplayer support. Those are the company’s descriptions of what the tools can produce, rather than results from a published test of finished games.
Meta describes a cycle of requesting a game, trying the generated build and asking for changes. A build can run in the background while other titles are played, with a notification when it is ready to test, and the app can keep multiple projects under way. That sequence puts revision inside the phone app rather than treating the first prompt as the finished design.
Saxs Persson, Meta’s VP of Horizon, described the aim in terms of the work between an idea and an audience: “If you have a great idea for a game, you should be able to build it and get it in front of players without spending months navigating tools, hardware, and marketing.” The tools address creation and distribution together, although the amount of work a particular game would still require depends on what its creator wants to change.
Horizon Studio adds control in the browser
Horizon Studio uses a browser and combines written instructions with visual editing. Meta says creators can position scenes, replace individual assets from a library, change script parameters that govern behaviour and adjust spatial layouts directly. A written request can also apply a new style across a scene’s surroundings, characters and lighting at once.
The connection between Studio and Create is a shared backend. In Meta’s account, a project can move from either tool to the other with its assets, systems and history of revisions intact. It is rather like opening the same notebook from two devices: the work belongs to the notebook, while each screen offers a different way to change it. A game begun with a short description on a phone could therefore be adjusted element by element in the browser.
Meta says Studio can also start a project from an idea, without a game first being made in Create. That matters for the choice of working surface: the browser is presented as a place to begin as well as a place to refine. The company says Studio requires neither an installation nor a gaming PC.
Instagram clips offer a route into games
Publishing through either tool makes a game eligible for native distribution across Facebook, Instagram and Horizon, according to Meta. The company says a tap on an Instagram game clip can lead into a multiplayer session within seconds, without an app installation or a departure from the feed. That route links the place a game is encountered to the place it is played.
Trying a game seen in a short video could mean tapping the clip and joining a multiplayer session without downloading anything or leaving the feed, if the described route from viewing to play works as intended.
Meta says distribution will favour games that hold players’ interest, work reliably and bring them back, while titles that do not meet those conditions will lose visibility. It also describes in-game monetisation and the Meta Horizon Creator Fund as potential sources of revenue as a game’s reach grows. Eligibility to appear across the apps is therefore one part of the offer; Meta also describes continued play as a factor in discovery.
Horizon began as a virtual reality app before shifting its focus towards phones, UA.News reported. The publication put Horizon at 300,000 monthly users at the beginning of 2022 and Roblox at 123 million daily active users. Those figures count different periods of activity. Roblox is developing its own AI game-making tools, including a feature intended to generate games from prompts in its mobile app.
Meta puts review before Horizon publication
Meta says generated content passes through its safety systems before players encounter it, and games are reviewed before publication and distribution. It says every published game receives an automated age rating and is placed in an age-appropriate tier. The company also says its existing youth protections, including parental supervision through Family Center, apply to these games.
Those checks are part of the proposed publishing path for games assembled from prompts as well as games subsequently changed by hand. Meta says Horizon Create and Horizon Studio are being tested with its creator community, and an early-access waitlist is open for sign-ups.
