Once again, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that layoffs would be coming soon. Mark Zuckerberg announced the layoffs and we expected it. However, today something happened that we did not expect: Meta started to shift its focus back to VR games instead of the Metaverse.
As Business Insider Opens in a new tab According to reports, even though Meta laid off 4,000 workers today, Reality Labs’ gaming division is considered “safe” and won’t be experiencing layoffs at this time. Meta’s gaming division currently includes more than a dozen developers who are housed within the Oculus Studios Opens in a new tab Label and have created some of the most popular Quest 2 games Opens in a new tab.
The report also states that “many teams and projects” will be disbanded within Reality Labs, but surprisingly the gaming teams are allowed to hire certain roles.
Although the report didn’t explicitly say that Meta was canning Horizon Worlds Opens in a new tab Concept, reading between lines suggests more than simply that the company is moving away from the conversation about the metaverse for a little while. It is realizing that Quest is more of a gaming console rather than a metaverse gateway.
San Andreas is here!
Roughly one month ago, we saw the announcement that Meta was increasing investment into its publishing arm — now known as Oculus Publishing — and would fund over 150 new gaming projects Opens in a new tab The next several years will be very interesting.
We’re also expecting to see 41 new games and apps. Opens in a new tab Meta Quest 3 will include new games from Meta’s own first-party studios Opens in a new tab Launching this Fall. This report by Business Insider, however, shows that Meta is not just increasing its development investment. Meta is actually pivoting towards what has become the most popular reasons to use a Quest head-set.
We learned just this week that Quest 2 players use headsets. Opens in a new tab Each month, between 35-40% of the 20 million installed base is accounted for. It’s the very first time this metric has been seen on Meta’s VR Platform and it is a good sign for VR’s continued viability.
Meta is actually pivoting towards what has become the most popular reasons to use a Quest Headset: gaming.
Meta reported at the end 2022 that one third of the games in the Quest store generate millions in revenue. More recently, games such as Beat Saber, have generated around $250 million since they launched on Quest.
Meta is reportedly working on bringing more big-name games to the headset, such as Resident Evil 4 VR. This game has enjoyed both significant critical and commercial successes. Quest has its own wish list of games that we would like to see. Opens in a new tab Some people may be able to survive after this major change.
Meta is hoping that more major franchises will be added to Quest, such as Grand Theft Auto. The latter was announced for Quest 2 years ago.
The report mentioned franchises such as Grand Theft Auto, and Call of Duty. The former was announced nearly two years ago for Quest but has not been mentioned since.
Assassin’s Creed VR still appears as a Quest game. Opens in a new tab It has not been publicized in several decades. Ubisoft cancelled Splinter Cell VR shortly after it was announced, but this new push by Meta could bring back some of these major games along with new ones.
Since Meta switched company names to Metaverse from Facebook, investors have clamoured for a “killer application” for Metaverse. According to the source at Meta, Zuckerberg believes that gaming will be a major part of their future. That killer app.
It’s now easier (and cheaper) than ever to play great VR games. Meta Quest 2 will change your mind about VR.
