- Meta’s Reality Labs unit recorded a $3.85 billion operating loss in the first quarter of 2024, with revenue of $440 million, representing only around 1% of Meta’s total sales.
- Reality Labs has now lost more than $45 billion since the end of 2020 as Meta invests heavily in developing metaverse technology.
- Meta announced a partnership with third-party hardware companies to create new VR headsets using the Meta Horizon operating system, aiming to ensure an “open model defines the next generation of computing” in competition with Apple’s closed ecosystem.
Mark Zuckerberg‘s ambitious vision for the metaverse is racking up massive losses, even as Meta moves to open up its virtual reality ecosystem to more hardware partners.
Meta’s Metaverse Division Posts Nearly $4 Billion Q1 Loss
In its first-quarter earnings report Wednesday, Meta said its Reality Labs division recorded a $3.85 billion operating loss. Revenue from the metaverse unit totaled $440 million, up about 30% year-over-year but still only 1% of Meta’s total sales.
Analysts were expecting a $4.31 billion loss on $512.5 million in revenue. Since late 2020, Reality Labs has accumulated over $45 billion in losses.
Zuckerberg Envisions the Metaverse as the Next Frontier
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has touted the metaverse as “the next frontier,” imagining a virtual world for both work and play. In 2021, he renamed Facebook as Meta to signal his futuristic ambitions.
For now though, building the necessary technology remains an expensive undertaking. Last September, Meta unveiled the Quest 3 VR headset for $499, while Apple launched its $3,499 Vision Pro headset in February.
Meta Pursues an Open Ecosystem for VR Hardware
On Monday, Meta announced partnerships with third-party companies to create additional VR headsets powered by its Meta Horizon operating system.
Zuckerberg said that unlike the closed ecosystem of Apple’s iPhones, Meta wants to ensure an “open model defines the next generation of computing.”
