Meta Platforms has significantly scaled back its once-vaunted metaverse initiative, citing high costs and low user engagement, as the company redirects resources toward artificial intelligence development.
The social media giant announced it will limit the scope of its virtual-reality efforts, effectively retreating from the vision of moving much of daily life online, officials confirmed on Thursday.
Meta’s Reality Labs division, which oversees the metaverse projects, has accumulated more than $70 billion in losses since late 2020 and saw a 10 percent workforce reduction in January.
Users will lose access to Horizon Worlds through Quest VR headsets after June 15, although the company partially reversed an earlier decision by stating that existing headsets will continue to support certain Horizon Worlds apps while adding no new ones.
The pullback reflects broader consumer reluctance toward VR headsets, a trend also seen in rival products such as Apple’s Vision Pro.
Meta has indicated it will now prioritise AI investments, mirroring the strategy that propelled its early success with Facebook two decades ago.