Meta Continues to Invest Heavily in Metaverse Technology, Loses $4.97 Billion in Fourth Quarter
Meta, the social media giant led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, continued to pour billions of dollars into its Reality Labs unit, which is developing the virtual reality and augmented reality technologies needed to underpin the nascent metaverse. The company reported an operating loss of $4.97 billion in the fourth quarter, despite generating $1.1 billion in sales. This marked a significant operating loss for Reality Labs, which has tallied more than $60 billion in losses since 2020.
Reality Labs is responsible for creating the Quest family of virtual reality headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses. Meta’s investment in VR and AR technologies is aimed at developing the futuristic digital world known as the metaverse, which Zuckerberg believes will be the next major computing platform.
Meta’s investment in metaverse technology has been met with skepticism on Wall Street, with some questioning the company’s ambitious plans and the significant losses being incurred. Despite this, Meta is doubling down on its metaverse efforts, announcing that it will invest between $60 billion and $65 billion in 2025 capital expenditures to expand its computing infrastructure related to artificial intelligence. AI is core to the company’s metaverse efforts, including its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which it develops with France-based EssilorLuxottica.
The company has also unveiled its latest VR headset, the Quest 3S, and is pitching the device as a way for people to watch movies, play games, and work out in VR. Other tech companies, such as Apple and Google, are also investing in VR and AR technologies.