Facebook’s metaverse subsidiary, Facebook Reality Labs, is tasked with developing augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) gear, software, and content. The division aims to pay at least $10 billion this year.
According to the company’s third-quarter results announcement issued this afternoon, they are “dedicated to bringing this long-term idea to life and expect to increase their investments for several years.” “The next generation of online social experiences,” as defined by Facebook, will include AR and VR components.
With the Oculus Quest headgear and Portal calling devices currently in production, the division has positioned as Facebook’s next big thing. Among other things, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been gushing continuously about the metaverse in recent months. Facebook announced today that it would begin disclosing results for its Reality Labs sector separately from its core ad business, which generated an astounding $28 billion in revenue alone in the most recent quarter. It signals to investors that the Reality Labs business is essential and should be valued independently from Facebook.
In other words, it’s a ploy to keep investors’ attention off of Facebook’s dismal earnings report today. While this isn’t a massive amount by Facebook’s standards, it illustrates some of the corporation’s difficulties right now. Facebook ascribes this to a variety of causes: COVID-19, the economy, and the latest revisions to Apple’s ad-tracking policy — all of which were on display when Snap released its profits last week as well.
Applications that follow you between apps and websites now require users to consciously opt-in as part of an April iOS update from Apple. First, social media companies claimed they were uncertain about its impact on their ad businesses, which use tracking to determine the effectiveness of their commercials.
The last two weeks have been trying for Facebook. As per the Wall Street Journal, Facebook made significant mistakes, including moderation issues and concerns about the mental health of younger users. The whistleblower who leaked those documents later testified before Congress. And just this morning, dozens of stories were published by a grouping of news outlets, including The Verge, covering even more problems for Facebook. At some point in early October, Facebook’s apps went down for most of the day.
To investors, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sounded indignant about the stolen documents on a conference call on Monday, saying they were part of an “organized effort” to “create a misleading picture of our firm. When talking about Facebook’s work in courting young people and creating the metaverse, he rapidly moved to the concept that perhaps it would be better to avoid some of the attention by moving toward something new.
Global social network leader Facebook has made significant investments in virtual and augmented reality gear, including its Oculus VR headsets and work on AR glasses and wristband technologies for virtual reality and augmented reality.
Several VR gaming studios have been purchased by the company, including BigBox VR. According to information published by The Information in March, the company employs roughly 10,000 people that work on virtual reality projects.
