About 10 percent of Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops its own XR products and services, will be acquired starting Tuesday, as reported bloomberg.
Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton confirmed the layoffs in a statement The Verge: “We said last month that we were shifting some of our investments from the metaverse to wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year.”
Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses have made headlines with their VR headsets in recent years, especially with the launch of the Meta Ray-Ban Display last year. As bloomberg It was also reported on Tuesday that Meta may be planning double its production capacity for its AI smart glasses by the end of 2026 in response to growing demand. So, it may not be surprising that the meta is focusing more on wearables, and less on the largely forgotten metaverse.
However, Meta isn’t leaving the metaverse entirely. according to bloombergAn internal memo from Meta’s chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth also mentioned the change in the company’s metaverse strategy. Rather than being a VR-first social platform, the metaverse will focus more on mobile devices moving forward.
