Despite experiencing a loss of $9.4 billion USD from Reality Labs during the first three-quarters of 2022 alone, Meta has reaffirmed its commitment to building the metaverse. The company has declared that it will trudge on by continuing to invest in Reality Labs in a new blog post entitled Why we still believe in the future from CTO and Head of Reality Labs Andrew Boswoth.
“Economic challenges across the world, combined with pressures on Meta’s core business, created a perfect storm of skepticism about the investments we’re making,” Bosworth writes in the introductory paragraphs, presumably referencing Reality Labs’ financial shortcomings.
He went on to cite the overall achievements of the company, noting that during Q3, “daily active users on Facebook were at an all-time high,” and citing positive engagement trends for both Instagram and WhatsApp.
“As also reflected in our Q3 results, about 80% of Meta’s overall investments support the core business, with the other 20% going toward Reality Labs,” Bosworth writes. “It’s a level of investment we believe makes sense for a company committed to staying at the leading edge of one of the most competitive and innovative industries on earth.”
Although Meta is losing money from Reality Labs, Bosworth points toward the company’s long-term vision, where advancements in mixed reality will ultimately lead to the replacement of hardware such as laptops with VR-capable equipment. According to the post, Meta aims to achieve that by continuously funding Reality Labs using 20% of its spending budget in 2023, proceeding with the awareness that they’ll likely lose money on the venture.
Bosworth also wrote about Meta’s goal to continue developing advanced AR glasses and build upon its decade-plus of research in the AI space.
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