Meta's VR Division Reports $13.7 Billion Loss in 2022

For Meta’s VR business, things don’t seem promising financially. The business disclosed last week that its Reality Labs VR and AR segment lost a huge $13.7 billion in 2022 in a financial update(Opens in a new window). That’s $3.5 billion greater than the operating loss it reported in 2021 of $10,2 billion.

For years, Meta has invested money and staff into its Reality Labs business; according to The Verge(Opens in a new window), the division had 17,000 workers before layoffs late last year.

The corporation, then known as Facebook, acquired the virtual reality (VR) company Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014, followed by the acquisitions of the VR studio Beat Games in 2019 and the startup VR Fitness App Within just this month.

Investors were not pleased to learn that Reality Labs made less money in 2018 than it did in 2021, bringing in $2.16 billion as opposed to $2.27 billion.

And to add insult to injury, Meta CFO Susan Li stated that the company anticipates even greater losses this year.
She stated during an earnings call that Meta was unwavering in its efforts to launch the metaverse and invest in VR, saying, “We’re going to continue to engage heavily in this area given the significant long-term prospects there we see.” (TechCrunch(Opens in a new window))

While Apple is rumoured to be aiming to release a new AR/VR headset in the fall of 2023 with the working title “xrOS,” Meta plans to release a new mixed-reality headset later this year.