Facebook Sees Massive $3 Billion Loss on VR Development in 2022

gamerant.com:

Game developers and gamers themselves have thought about and tried to implement virtual reality many times over the years. While virtual reality still isn't the leading method of gaming, it's gaining in popularity, and due in no small part to the efforts of Meta (formerly Facebook).

Through the Meta Quest (formerly Oculus) headsets and an effort towards creating the Metaverse, more people than ever have gotten a taste of what virtual reality has to offer, both within and outside of gaming. However, achieving the future that Facebook sees isn't coming cheaply, and the company continues to see major losses as a result of its development into this field.

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Reality Labs, the division of Facebook/Meta responsible for developing virtual reality applications and headsets, has released its quarterly report alongside the rest of Facebook. This report has revealed that on its own, Reality Labs has seen a loss of nearly $3 billion so far in 2022, up from a loss of nearly $2 billion the year before.

That's not to say that Reality Labs is losing money with no results, however. The division has also generated just shy of $700 million in sales over the same period of time, an increase of over $150 million from the same time span in 2021. While it's far from breaking even with the amount that it's lost, the continued losses are likely due to Facebook/Meta's continued push to expand virtual reality's applications and accessibility at high speeds.

So far, the consumer-level Oculus/Meta Quest 2 has seen major success. The device, like its predecessor, is often in high demand and has been difficult to find available for purchase at times. A truly