Meta Chief Sees Its Struggling Metaverse Project as Test

UTC by Godfrey Benjamin · 3 min read
Meta Chief Sees Its Struggling Metaverse Project as Test
Photo: Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook

Despite the stock slump and the cutback on the company’s staffing, Mark Zuckerberg has reiterated plans to maintain its metaverse drive.

Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ: META), the parent company of Facebook with a new ambition to pioneer innovation in the metaverse world is not relenting in its push into the emerging technology.

As reported by Decrypt, citing Andrew Bosworth, the Chief Technical Officer of Reality Labs who wrote in a company post that despite the strain the company has experienced in the past year, it is not ready to give up the metaverse dream just yet.

“Meta began 2022 with a new name and a new vision for the future, and at Reality Labs it’s our job to bring that vision to life,” Bosworth wrote, adding, “We never thought it would be easy or straightforward, but this year was even harder than we expected.”

Bosworth highlighted that the global economic challenge experienced this year, “combined with pressures on Meta’s core business, created a perfect storm of skepticism about the investments we’re making.”

Meta Platforms changed its name to what it currently bears from Facebook Inc back in October last year, and at the time, it gave a mandate to the Facebook Reality Labs which it founded in September 2020 to deepen its involvement in the metaverse. Bosworth revealed that the company was betting on the growth of this tech riding on its general adoption.

“The long-term value of these technologies will come from how they’re adopted by the ecosystem of developers, creators, and builders that has formed around these devices,” Bosworth said.

The expectations of the company per its metaverse division have been frustrated over the past year as it revealed in October that the Reality Labs unit took on a loss of $3.6 billion. This loss was realized on the approximately 20% of all investment from Meta Platforms injected into the metaverse unit.

Despite the losses incurred, Bosworth said the funds show “..a level of investment we believe makes sense for a company committed to staying at the leading edge of one of the most competitive and innovative industries on earth.”

Meta Platforms Will Not Cut Back on Its Metaverse Push

The battery Meta Platforms’ metaverse project has experienced over the past year is not enough to make it taper down on its investments and push in general. Since it changed its name, Meta stock has slumped by over 60% and from $323.57 per share at the time, it is now changing hands at $113.76 according to its price in the Pre-Market today.

Despite this share slump and the cutback on the company’s staffing, Mark Zuckerberg has reiterated plans to maintain its metaverse drive. According to Bosworth, the current happening is a sign that economic conditions are a test of the company’s beliefs for the future.

“During boom times, it’s easy to make big, ambitious investments in what’s coming next, but when economic conditions turn, it’s just as easy to turn the other way: cut back on your ambitions, stick to what’s safest and most profitable today, and squeeze as much as you can from it,” he said, adding that “These are the moments that truly test people’s belief in the future.”

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