Zuckerberg's vision of the metaverse has failed

Debora Pape

14.1.2026

Translation: machine translated

After years of trying to make virtual reality suitable for the masses, Zuckerberg is giving up. In future, Meta will focus on AI and smart wearables.

The attempt to make virtual reality (VR) appealing to the mainstream audience has failed: Meta is significantly scaling back its VR ambitions and closing three studios that developed VR games for Zuckerberg's brand. Instead, the company wants to focus on AI and the further development of augmented reality glasses.

With the billion-euro purchase of Oculus in 2014, a company that made VR glasses suitable for the masses, Zuckerberg set the course for the coming years: to inspire a broad audience for VR. After launching several VR headsets, he announced the Metaverse in 2021. By the 2030s, this online platform was to establish itself as a virtual, immersive meeting point for billions of employees to work, interact with others and spend their free time there.

The Group's Reality Labs division spent enormous sums on this: Between 2021 and 2025 alone, losses totalled more than 70 billion US dollars.

Niche products despite high investments

Unlike no other company, Meta seemed to follow a simple principle under Zuckerberg's leadership: The heavy investment in providing solid products will pay off, and when it does, Meta will dominate the market it has built itself. The Meta Quest headsets are good and affordable for consumers, the games are entertaining - and yet interest from the target group remained muted.

Despite this, Meta stuck to its strategy for years and seemed to want to sit out the subdued response despite all the criticism. Now the company is writing off the billions invested and adjusting its course.

The Reality Labs division in particular is feeling the effects. Around ten per cent of employees, or more than 1,000 people, are losing their jobs. This is according to an internal circular referred to by Bloomberg. Three VR game studios will be closed: Twisted Pixel Games («Marvel's Deadpool VR»), Sanzaru Games («Asgard's Wrath») and Armature Studio («Resident Evil 4 VR»).

The further development of the VR fitness app Supernatural will also fall victim to the red pencil. Overall, Meta wants to cut the Reality Labs budget by 30 per cent - and is focusing on AI gadgets that are relevant to everyday life instead.

Meta focuses on AI and smart interfaces

Meta's move to focus on the development of AI wearables, in particular smart glasses, is not entirely surprising. With Llama, the company already has an established Large Language Model (LLM). In contrast to heavy VR headsets that are useless in everyday life, smart glasses offer more use cases: for example, they can be used to speak hands-free with the AI assistant and make recordings while travelling.

In cooperation with the Ray Ban brand, Meta launched such smart glasses on the market at the end of 2023. They are now also available in Europe and have been a surprise success. In future, smart glasses will also display AR content. Augmented reality superimposes virtual content over the real environment for the eyes of the individual user. Meta presented such AR glasses in 2024 with the Meta Orion, but they are not yet ready for series production.

For Zuckerberg, it's a step forward, but it also harbours risks. Meta does not enjoy the best reputation and is repeatedly involved in data scandals. Whether the general public is prepared to open up their privacy to smart glasses and AI assistants in everyday life remains the crucial question for the company.

Debora Pape

Editor

Debora.Pape@galaxus.de

Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.

---

News + Trends

From the latest iPhone to the return of 80s fashion. The editorial team will help you make sense of it all.

Show all

These articles might also interest you