There are relatively few mentions of the “metaverse”, with only seven mentions of “AI” in this week’s quarterly earnings call versus 23 of “AI”. .
Starting in 2021, Meta will begin splitting Reality Labs’ VR and AR divisions into their own segments for financial reporting purposes. This allows us to see just how much meta is being poured into these areas, and the numbers are staggering.
Meta reported that Reality Labs will have an operating loss of $13.7 billion in 2022. This is on top of the already staggering $10.2 billion spent on the sector in 2021. Reality Labs had $2.16 billion in revenue last year, down from $2.27 billion in 2021.
As for scope, remember that Meta acquired Oculus in 2014. Oculus is the pioneering VR hardware company that formed the foundation of that effort. Including Within, creator of Beat Saber and now developer of virtual workout app Supernatural.
Meta has not disclosed how many people Reality Labs has, but the company reportedly had 17,000 employees in the division before laying off late last year. Staffing and hardware development account for most of the cash spent in this area.
Meta CFO Susan Li said she expects Reality Labs’ annual losses to be even higher in 2023. , AR, VR, and Metaverse software efforts are called “long-term investments.”
Meta plans to launch its next generation of consumer headsets in the second half of 2023, including an improved version of its Quest hardware featuring mixed reality. Apple, one of the only consumer companies poised to compete with Meta in this space, is widely expected to launch a new AR/VR headset soon.
On this week’s earnings call, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the fact that the company’s Reality Labs encompasses AR, VR, and Metaverse-related software such as Horizon Worlds. “Software and social platforms may be the most important part of what we do, but software is far less capital intensive to build than hardware,” he said. I’m here.
Meta may not openly highlight its commitment to the Metaverse in order to please skeptical investors, but the company seems poised to stay on course in VR and AR.
“…I have not seen any indication that Reality Labs strategy needs to change long-term,” said Zuckerberg. “We’re constantly fine-tuning the details of how we’re going to do this, so I’m sure we’ll look into that as part of our ongoing efficiency work.”
