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Zuckerberg acknowledges Meta’s costly bet after $70bn setback
Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that company's bold strategic gamble on Metaverse is falling short of his most optimistic hopes
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that the company's bold strategic gamble on the Metaverse is falling short of his most optimistic hopes.
The tech giant is now scaling back expenditure on the immersive virtual reality project as part of a significant realignment, shifting the company's core focus toward artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable technology, according to several news outlets.
This pivot follows years of substantial resource investment into the effort, which has resulted in cumulative losses exceeding $70 billion.
The Metaverse was initially unveiled with much publicity in 2021 when the company officially changed its name to Meta Platforms, signaling a major move toward a new computing landscape centered on shared, immersive virtual environments.
Zuckerberg and Meta's leadership team have consistently presented it as the subsequent evolution of social connection, work, entertainment, and commerce, intended to merge people's physical and digital existences seamlessly.
Despite the ambitious vision, the execution has proven exceptionally challenging for Meta.
Reports have indicated that Meta is preparing to reduce the Metaverse budget by as much as 30% in 2026, a steeper reduction than most other corporate divisions.
These cutbacks, which are part of the annual financial planning process, will affect Reality Labs, the division responsible for Meta's Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) endeavors, including the principal Horizon Worlds platform and the Quest VR headset.
