Meta’s drive into the metaverse — you know, the whole reason for the company’s rebranding — is skidding to a halt. Following reports that the Facebook and Instagram owner would be laying off staff, the company has begun… laying off staff.
Affected are employees at Reality Labs, the division responsible for AR, VR, and metaverse experiences, as well as three different VR studios under Meta’s aegis. Well, studios Armature, Sanzaru, and Twisted Pixel used to be under the company’s umbrella. Not anymore.
Meta’s dose of Reality (Labs)
The transition away from the much-lauded ‘metaverse’ toward something more tangible has been in the works for some time. Parts of Reality Labs switched to more concrete products at the beginning of 2025, but the downscaling of the loss-making division has now begun in earnest. Not surprising for folks who have been paying attention, but still highly unpleasant for those involved.
Meta’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, explained in a memo to staff where the division would be headed next. The company isn’t abandoning its virtual world ambitions entirely, but it will begin “shifting teams and resources almost exclusively to mobile to continue to accelerate adoption there.”
Part of that shift involves dropping more than 1,000 players from the team, and that’s just at Reality Labs. Several virtual reality studios are being canned entirely, halting new game releases from them, and also contributing to further stalls in the release of new virtual reality hardware. Some existing VR titles like the company’s fitness-focused Supernatural will continue to receive updates, but, unless it’s a wearable of some sort, don’t expect any new hardware to accompany it.
Even in this case, “Supernatural will no longer receive new content or feature updates starting today.” But, according to a statement to Engadget, the company will ” reinvest the savings [from these closures] to support the growth of wearables this year.”
