Meta loses billions of dollars in quest to lead AR-VR market

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.