Meta's Reality Labs loses colossal $13.7 bn on VR-AR projects

Meta (formerly Facebook) lost a whopping $13.7 billion in operating losses for Reality Labs for 2022, giving its AR-VR and Metaverse dream a huge jolt.

Within the Reality Labs segment, Q4 revenue was $727 million, down 17 per cent due to lower Quest 2 sales.

Reality Labs expenses were $5 billion, up 20 per cent primarily due to employee-related costs and restructuring-related expenses.

Reality Labs operating loss was $4.3 billion in the holiday quarter of 2022.

Meta bought AR hardware company Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014.

Last year, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will invest $10 billion for its Metaverse dream.


Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company expects its annual losses for Reality Labs to be even higher in 2023.

"We're going to continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see. It is a long-duration investment," said Li.

Zuckerberg said that the company shipped Quest Pro at the end of last year.


"It's the first mainstream mixed reality device, and we're setting the standard for the industry with our Meta Reality system," he said.

"Beyond MR, the broader VR ecosystem continues growing. There are now over 200 apps on our VR devices that have made more than $1 million in revenue," the Meta CEO informed.

The company launched avatars on WhatsApp last quarter and more than 100 million people have already created avatars in the app. - IANS