Meta Abandons Its $70B Metaverse Dream for AI Wearables
After rebranding and spending enough to fund a small country’s GDP, Meta is finally admitting the metaverse won’t pay its bills. On Tuesday, the social media kingpin severed 1K+ jobs — a 10% carve-out — from its Reality Labs division, signaling a shift from CEO Zuckerberg’s grand vision toward projects that are actually gaining traction.
- The division behind Meta’s Quest headsets and virtual worlds has burned through $70B+ since 2021 — as Reality Labs’ costly moonshots failed to generate noteworthy revenue.
- As the group faces budget cuts of up to 30%, its Ray-Ban partnership could double production by year-end — hardware that Zuckerberg says is “performing better than expected.”
Lost in reality: While the metaverse lives on, it’s demoted to a side project rather than Meta’s entire identity. To adapt, the mobile-first pivot aims to bring VR to devices users already own. Still, hardware sales remain a key priority to lock in LLM users — and to grow, Meta’s exploring earbuds, watches, and even brick-and-mortar stores to sell the gear. However, with Apple and Google also preparing rival wearables, Big Tech’s “post-smartphone” arena is just warming up.
