It's been an open secret for some time now that Meta has been making a startling loss on its Quest VR headsets, but in a Q3 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has addressed the situation directly. After Meta Connect last month, when the brand's new VR Glasses were revealed, it seemed to all but confirm that the Quest headsets wouldn't be seeing a direct sequel anytime soon.
"I also shared at Connect that we are changing our approach to virtual reality to only ship new devices when we have major breakthroughs like we had with the Meta VR Glasses this year", said Zuckerberg. "Which of course are the first VR experience ever in a pair of glasses.
"I continue to believe that the path to delivering the holographics experience of bringing together the physical and digital worlds in everyday glasses will come through VR first, but we will pace this aspect of our investment more to focus on delivering personal super intelligence first."
As we know, much of Meta's Connect keynote this year focused on Muse, the new user-focused AI the brand is trying to integrate into its hardware, including its smart glasses. It seems the focus has shifted from consumer-facing headsets that the everyday person can afford - which we knew when the tide turned from the Metaverse to the pursuit of AI.
Surprisingly, Zuckerberg alluded directly to the lack of profitability of the Reality Labs division, which has seen studio closures and multiple rounds of layoffs this year.
"So with these factors combined, we expect that the P&L of Reality Labs to improve from here, with operating loss coming down to around $15B next year and trending towards profitability from there."
For us gamers, that doesn't give us much hope about the future. For anyone hoping for a Quest 4 anytime soon, that seems a little more than a pipe dream at present. The flame might still be flickering, but "major breakthroughs" is fairly open-ended. You can buy controllers for the Meta VR Glasses, and play all of the same games on them as you would a Quest 3 - they just aren't focused quite so heavily on gaming in their design. What's more, Meta has closed its three biggest game development studios, so I wouldn't expect any more exclusive games or fun bundles.
For context, Steam Frame has now launched to the tune of $1,000+, which offers a fairly similar experience to Meta's devices. Other headset manufacturers are clearly unwilling to compete with Meta's more affordable pricing due to the losses they're creating, but it seems there are fewer and fewer names in the market each time we look.
It came to light in recent weeks that PlayStation has sold all of its VR patents to Meta, signalling the brand's exit from the VR gaming space. But if Meta is only going to be focusing on wearables for AI, and not for the everyday consumer to game and have mixed-reality in their homes, who is left to appeal to the market? Pico is one of Meta's biggest competitors, but its upcoming headset, Project Swan looks to be a higher-end offering not necessarily geared at gaming.
"Our work on personal superintelligence is now also the focus of Reality Labs. Muse is coming to Meta Glasses starting next month, and that will be an important step towards this," continued Zuckerberg as he pointed toward the future of Reality Labs.
"People already love many features of the glasses already -- music, calling, capturing moments, 4 hearing assistance, and more -- but over time we expect Muse and having your personal superintelligence with you throughout the day will be the most important part of the experience".
To make yours last as long as possible and feel just as new as the day you unboxed it, check out the best Meta Quest accessories.
