[ad_1]
Meta is downsizing its virtual reality division.
Meta confirmed to The Verge on Thursday that it had laid off an undisclosed number of employees in its virtual reality and hardware unit, Reality Labs. The layoffs impacted teams working on games for Meta’s Quest virtual reality headsets and the division that built the popular virtual reality fitness app Supernatural.
A note on the official Supernatural community Facebook group of more than 112,000 members confirmed the layoffs.
“We’re deeply saddened to share that [organizational] changes have resulted in the loss of some of our incredibly talented team members,” the post, which was shared on Thursday, read.
The post goes on to mention that the number of workouts released on Supernatural per week would decrease because of the layoffs and the resulting smaller number of people working on the app.
A user plays Supernatural. Photo by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Meta Platforms Technologies LLC
Meta acquired Within Unlimited, the virtual reality startup behind Supernatural, in February 2023 for more than $400 million after successfully fighting a government antitrust lawsuit.
The tech company conducted a round of performance-based layoffs in February, cutting 5% of its 72,000-person global workforce, or about 3,600 employees. Some fired Meta workers claimed they had a track record of good performance and were surprised by the layoffs.
The performance-based cuts impacted at least 560 employees who worked in Meta’s virtual reality division, according to documents seen by Business Insider. A memo obtained by the outlet in February from Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth noted that 2025 was a make-or-break year for the company’s virtual reality efforts.
“We need to drive sales, retention and engagement across the board,” Bosworth wrote in the memo.
As of the end of February, Meta had fired close to two dozen employees for leaking internal memos, meeting recordings and other company information to the press.
Meta’s virtual reality offerings are popular. Meta had sold close to 20 million Quest headsets as of February 2023. It released the $499 Quest 3 in October 2023 and sold at least one million units of the virtual reality headset as of June 2024.
However, Meta’s virtual reality efforts are expensive and have resulted in $60 billion in losses for the company since 2020. In its latest earnings report, released in January, Meta noted that its Reality Labs unit generated $1.1 billion in sales in the fourth quarter of 2024 but recorded an operating loss of $4.97 billion.
[ad_2]
Source link