Meta’s plans to expand metaverse hit roadblock again

Facebook-parent company Meta is not giving up on metaverse despite losing billions on the project and facing charges by competition regulators. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a complaint to block the company from acquiring virtual reality studio Within. As a result, the company has now delayed the acquisition amid VR antitrust claims.
As per a court filing (via The Verge) and reported by news agency Reuters, Meta has delayed the acquisition of Within by a month. This means that the company will not close the deal until January 31 as opposed to its August agreement to not to close the deal until 11:59 p.m. on December 31.
FTC said that Meta bought Within – the company which made virtual reality fitness app Supernatural – to end competition in the fitness market. It is to be noted that Meta already owns Beat Saber which is similar to Supernatural.
Speculation was rife that regulators could intervene in the company’s “growing dominance of the consumer VR market” for allegedly unlawfully monopolising the VR industry. Meta has denied these allegations.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has already said that “if this deal doesn’t close in a timely manner, we’ll probably just walk away.”

Reality Labs operating losses
Earlier this year, Meta CFO Dave Wehner noted that the company suffered huge losses in the last two years. As per multiple reports, Meta lost about $10 billion in 2021 and it has lost over $9 billion in 2022 by November.
Reality Labs lost $3.7 billion in Q3 2022. The executive also said that Reality Labs’ operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year. Reality Labs is a Meta-owned business that produces virtual reality and augmented reality hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as Quest.
Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 3
Earlier this year, Meta launched its next-generation Quest Pro mixed reality headset. The company also confirmed that it will launch the next-generation Quest in 2023. Company CFO David Whener noted during the investors’ call that the company’s “next generation of the consumer Quest headset” will launch “later next year.