Meta is laying off over 100 employees in their VR division.
Meta made the announcement earlier in the week, though their official statement did not give a figure. Bloomberg reported that the headcount of employees affected goes beyond 100.
Among those who are being laid off are people who make their VR headset hardware, as well as people who make software under Oculus Studios. Bloomberg specifically names a fitness app called Supernatural. Meta actually bought the game for $ 400 million, and successfully fended off an antitrust lawsuit that tried to block their purchase.
As reported by NBC, a Meta spokesperson provided this statement:
“Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size. These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience, while still delivering great content for people today.”
NBC also noted that this is only the latest round of cuts the company is making as their VR division struggles to make a profit. In the last 4th quarter, Reality Labs reported making $ 1.1 billion in sales, only to announce an operating loss of $ 4.97 billion. Last February, they already laid off 5 % of their total workforce.
It’s definitely a challenging time for the VR market so far. At the start of the year, we reported on a rumor that Apple has already stopped making new Apple Vision Pro units. Then in March, Sony had a permanent price drop for their PlayStation VR 2 headsets.
It isn’t all grim for the market, as some companies are still working on new products. We reported on rumors that Valve is hard at work at a new generation of their VR headsets. Meta themselves just launched a new range of non-VR smartglasses with EssilorLuxottica, simply called Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Smartglasses, which vary in functions and capabilities from having AR, cameras, AI assistants, and simple portable displays, seem to be a parallel market where a lot of VR and mixed reality technology could eventually go to. Some gamers are already playing consoles, such as the Nintendo Switch, on these portable displays.
But Silicon Valley’s vision of VR and mixed reality, that they would enable the creation of metaverses where people would simply live out virtual lives all day, that no longer seems to be our inevitable future. If anything, the shrinking investment the big companies like Sony, Apple, and Meta have in VR and mixed reality suggests that they are slated to be relegated as a luxury consumer niche.
And even as a luxury, VR and mixed reality may not even stick around, in the same way that consumer 3D TVs died out in the 2010s. But if and when that happens? We’re certain VR game developers will find their way making games outside VR, perhaps in parallel future opportunities and game ideas as well.
