Meta is doubling down on the metaverse

Meta says that 20% of its company spend in 2023 will go towards Reality Labs, its metaverse-focused offshoot.

In a blog post from CTO Andrew Bosworth, the company defends doubling-down on the metaverse.

“These are the moments that truly test people’s belief in the future,” he says. The company is unwavering in its focus on developing the metaverse.

Despite the worsening economic conditions, he says the company is thinking long-term. It doesn’t want to cut currently-unprofitable projects that have future potential.

That’s unfortunate for the Portal video calling devices and the unannounced smartwatch. Those devices were axed in November as Meta aligned spending on core products.

Things like advertising revenue will affect the amount of money Reality Labs gets. This means that Meta is committing a set percentage of its resources to improve its metaverse ambitions.

The Meta-metaverse is still on track

Virtual and mixed reality is far from a passing fad. They have been the “next big thing” since the 80s, but the technology is finally catching up with the grand vision.

Meta’s blog post also confirms that the Quest 2 VR headset’s successor will be released in 2023. The company’s last quarterly earnings report said as much, with a “later next year” timeline for the Quest 3.

Meta hasn’t confirmed full-color passthrough on the new headset, which will be an important piece of VR in the future.

It first released that feature on the Quest Pro, a premium mixed reality headset for business users.

One other piece of technology needed for the metaverse is eye and facial expression tracking. Again, the Quest Pro features this, but it’s unlikely to transfer to the lower-cost consumer headset in 2023.

The biggest takeaway from this is that Meta won’t abandon the metaverse. VR is here to stay.

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