IANS | 28 Apr, 2024
As Meta (formerly Facebook) continues to bet big on gaming, it has
lost close to $4 billion on its augmented reality/virtual reality
(AR-VR) division.
The Mark Zuckerberg-run company showed continued losses in its AR/VR Reality Labs division in its latest quarterly results.
The
company is losing money at a rate of more than $1 billion per month
since June 2022 on its AR/VR dream, according to GamesIndustry.biz.
“We
continue to expect operating losses to increase meaningfully
year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts and our
investments to further scale our ecosystem,” according to the company.
Meta
CFO Susan Li said on the Q1 earnings call that “We continue to expect
operating losses to increase meaningfully year-over-year”.
Meta’s Reality Labs recorded $440 million in revenue but an overall loss of $3.85 billion.
“The
initial signs are quite positive here. But building the leading AI will
also be a larger undertaking than the other experiences we've added to
our apps, and this is likely going to take several years,” said
Zuckerberg.
Meta captured 59 per cent of the Extended Reality (XR) headset market in 2023.
Notably,
Meta strategically lowered the price of its existing Quest 2 throughout
the year, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious
consumers, especially during the holiday season, according to
Counterpoint Research.
This strategy helped Meta maintain its lead until the launch of Quest 3 in Q4 2023.
