META
Reality Labs just became a lot less “limitless”
Meta is considering cutting its metaverse budget by up to 30% next year, according to Bloomberg.
The cuts are not yet final, but they would affect the teams working on the Quest VR headsets and the Horizon Worlds platform.
Over the past few years, the company has spent billions building its vision for virtual worlds.
But CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now shifted the company’s main focus towards AI development.
This includes a series of new senior hires, most recently former Apple designer Alan Dye, who will lead the design of Meta’s hardware, software, and AI interfaces.
As part of its yearly budget review, executives were asked to plan for about 10% cuts across the company.
Here’s what you should know:
Meta may cut metaverse spending more aggressively than other business areas.
The company’s investment focus is now more centred on AI.
Reality Labs continues to post large, ongoing financial losses.
From VR to AI
Bloomberg reports that the metaverse unit within Reality Labs has been asked to make even deeper reductions, as wider industry competition in the metaverse has not grown as expected.
Layoffs linked to these changes could begin as early as January.
Reality Labs has lost more than $70 billion since 2021, and Meta’s latest earnings show the division is still operating at a heavy loss.
Zuck shed a tear over this one, and we all know it. - MV