There were relatively many references to “Metaverse” very little In Meta’s quarterly earnings call this week — there were just seven mentions of “AI” compared to 23 — but the company’s investment in its vision of the future of our VR-connected society is still huge. is.
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 made $2.16 billion in revenue last year, down from $2.27 billion in 2021.
For ranges, remember the following Meta acquires Oculus — the pioneering VR hardware company that laid the foundation for that effort — at $2 billion in 2014. The company’s investments in this space have only escalated, with the company acquiring a number of large software companies. Including creator of Beat Saber and nowdeveloper of virtual workout app Supernatural.
Meta has not disclosed how many people Reality Labs has, but it reportedly has: 17,000 employees in department Before the layoffs at the end of 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 Reality Labs encompasses the company’s 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.
“…None of the signals I have seen so far suggest 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 consider it as part of our ongoing efficiency work.”
