Meta is looking to improve and streamline its efforts in the Web3 and wearables markets. The company has reportedly split its Reality Labs team into two separate entities, with one team working on the metaverse-focused Quest headsets and the other team devoting its time to hardware wearables that Meta may launch in the future. According to a report that recently surfaced online, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth announced the segregation of the Reality Labs team earlier this week.
What is Reality Labs and what are Meta’s plans for it?
After Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta in 2021, he formally established the Reality Labs unit in 2022. This division merged several initiatives that were already being worked on within the company, such as artificial intelligence, virtual headsets, and CTRL Labs. Later, Meta’s Reality Labs unit also became the centerpiece of the company’s exploration into metaverse technology.
According to a report by The edge Bosworth detailed the internal restructuring at Meta in a memo. The website also reported that layoffs have been announced for some members of the team. The exact number of layoffs is still unknown, but the report claims that it was a relatively small group.
Going forward, all of Meta’s initiatives related to Metaverse technology will reportedly be handled by the recently spun-off Metaverse division. The Quest VR headset, the Horizon OS operating system, and Meta’s Horizon Worlds social VR platform will be overseen by the Metaverse unit, the report said. Horizon chief Vishal Shah will also reportedly now oversee developments around the Quest headsets.
In 2022, Meta has renewed the Quest headset range with the ‘Meta Quest Pro’ which starts at a price of $999 (approximately Rs. 83,520). In 2023, Meta unveiled the Meta Quest 3 for a price of $499.99 (approximately Rs. 41,800). As of March 2023, Meta had reportedly sold 20 million Quest headsets.
The company has not yet publicly discussed the reported development.
Meta’s Metaverse Journey So Far
Zuckerberg announced his big plans to venture into the metaverse industry when he rebranded Facebook as Meta on October 8, 2021. With Web3 technologies facing global scrutiny for their link to volatile and risky digital assets, the growth of these technologies has been gradual.
Meta’s Reality Labs unit has been reporting consistent losses since its rebranding. Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion (approximately Rs. 1,12,200 crore) in 2022, while it incurred a loss of $46.5 billion while generating nearly $11 billion (approximately Rs. 91,744 crore) in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In May 2023, Meta had commissioned a study that showed that the metaverse could contribute as much as $760 billion (approximately Rs. 62,360,888 crore) or about 2.4 percent of the US annual gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035. Zuckerberg predicts that his metaverse initiatives will suffer even greater losses in the near future, but he remains diligent in researching the use cases.
