Meta via YouTube (screenshot)
After years of failing to build a profitable augmented reality platform, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is hammering one of the final nails in the coffin of his Metaverse efforts — ones that were once so central to his vision that he renamed the entire company after them.
This week, wall street journal informed Meta was laying off about 1,500 employees from its Reality Labs division, the department that worked on Meta’s virtual reality products. As part of the layoffs, three VR game studios were closed, although Horizon Worlds – Meta’s online VR game platform – is still operating, Per ignAlthough in reduced capacity.
Overall, the layoffs affect about 10 percent of the division’s total workforce, a hefty cut that comes as part of the company’s shift from virtual reality toward AI tools like its AI smart glasses.
“We said last month that we were shifting some of our investments away from the Metaverse toward wearables,” a Meta spokesperson said. WSJ. “This is part of that effort.”
These layoffs are unfortunate news for workers who will now be forced to work at one of these worst job market Since 2003. On the other hand, it’s surprising that Meta even chose to field such a large virtual reality team for so long.
Back in early December, WSJ first reported Meta’s Reality Labs has led the company to lose more than $77 billion since its founding in 2020. The company’s decision to finally rein in the bad metaverse – following Facebook’s rebranding as “Meta” in 2021 – was seen by industry analysts as a “smart move, belatedly”. (Even Zuckerberg shied away from the metaverse in earnings calls as early as 2023, as the entire project collapsed.)
All that said, it remains to be seen whether the push toward AI-powered “wearables” is more successful than Zuckerberg’s infamous foray into virtual reality.
Last week, Meta had to Stop International Shipment of its AI smart glasses due to inventory issues Analysts have warned International privacy regulations and oversaturated markets may limit their sales overall.
Don’t be discouraged, bloomberg has recently been revealed Meta officials had discussed whether to double the total production of AI specs from 10 million units to 20 million. A source familiar with the matter told the publication that production could reach 30 million units by the end of 2026, assuming demand justifies the surge in supply.
So while the future of AI smart glasses remains uncertain, one thing is certain: The metaverse, in all its ugly glory, is coming to an end forever.
More on Meta: A man bought Meta’s AI glasses, and wandered into the desert in search of aliens
