Meta’s Metaverse Division Reports $3.67 Billion Quarterly Loss

Meta revealed that its Reality Labs metaverse division lost over $3.6 billion in the third quarter of 2022, compared to $2.63 billion at the same time last year.

This year continues to be challenging for Meta’s metaverse ambitions. In Q2 2022, the project lost a reported $2.8 billion. According to the quarterly report, Meta’s Reality Labs has lost over $9.43 billion year-to-date.

“We do anticipate that Reality Labs operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year,” the report read. “Beyond 2023, we expect to pace Reality Labs investments such that we can achieve our goal of growing overall company operating income in the long run.”

The metaverse is a buzzword used to describe the next iteration of the Internet. The metaverse is largely characterized by persistent, shared virtual worlds in which people interact as 3D avatars.

Launched in August 2020, Reality Labs is Meta’s virtual and augmented reality arm that designs hardware and software, including Meta’s Oculus virtual reality set and the Horizon World metaverse project.

Horizon Worlds saw fresh scorn earlier this month on social media when it was revealed the legs added to the avatars that would live in the metaverse were faked using motion capture.

Despite today’s poor financial report, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg remained optimistic about the future of the company and its metaverse.

“While we face near-term challenges on revenue, the fundamentals are there for a return to stronger revenue growth,” he said. “We’re approaching 2023 with a focus on prioritization and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge an even stronger company.”