"Meta's decision to deprioritize virtual reality in favor of AI and Internet-connected smart glasses is sending a chill through the VR ecosystem. The decision is raising questions about whether the market is slipping into a prolonged slowdown. "I can see how it feels like a VR winter," Jessica Young, an independent VR content creator specializing in Horizon Worlds, Meta's virtual social network, told CNBC."
"Earlier this month, Meta laid off 10% of employees within its Reality Labs unit, with the cuts reportedly centered on VR initiatives including the Quest headset business and internal development tied to Horizon Worlds. Teams working on Horizon Worlds were hit especially hard, and some in-house studios were shuttered. Meta said the changes are part of a broader effort to reallocate Reality Labs spending away from VR and toward AI and wearable devices, including the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses produced with EssilorLuxottica."
"Meta's pullback stands out given the company's outsized role in shaping consumer VR. Since acquiring Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion, Meta has spent years positioning itself as the primary engine of mainstream VR adoption. That push culminated in 2021 when Facebook rebranded as Meta, signaling CEO Mark Zuckerberg's commitment to building the "metaverse." Reality Labs has become one of the company's biggest strategic bets and most expensive experiments. Since late 2020, the division has recorded more than $70 billion in cumulative losses."
Meta shifted Reality Labs spending away from virtual reality toward artificial intelligence and Internet-connected smart glasses, prompting layoffs and studio closures. The company cut about 10% of Reality Labs staff, with notable impact on Quest headset initiatives and Horizon Worlds development. Developers and studios dependent on Quest hardware sales and the Quest app store now face uncertainty about future hardware upgrades, developer incentives, and platform promotion. Meta had positioned itself as a primary engine of mainstream VR adoption since acquiring Oculus in 2014 and rebranding as Meta in 2021, but Reality Labs has incurred over $70 billion in cumulative losses since late 2020.
Read at TechRepublic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]