2025, the year of “greatness”… and the metaverse! At least that’s the wish of Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s CTO and boss of Reality Labs, who in a memo urges his troops to give their best. Better, or worse: 2025 will be the “most critical” year of his 8 years at the head of the division in charge of developing the metaverse.
Colossal losses for Reality Labs
Meta has the “best product catalog” on the market, and half a dozen new AI-powered products are planned for this year. Alas, he doesn’t give specifics on these devices, but there should be a few smart glasses in the mix.
The executive urges teams to do everything they can to “drive sales, retention, and engagement across the board”… especially in the mixed reality of Quest headsets, he says, adding that this also applies to the mobile version of Horizon Worlds, Meta’s smartphone incarnation of the metaverse.
“Horizon Worlds on mobile absolutely has to break through if our long-term plans are to succeed,” demands Andrew Bosworth. “This year will likely determine whether this entire effort is seen as the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure,” he says. Notably, the metaverse gamble has so far failed, with Meta even pivoting to generative AI. Will 2025 really be able to revive the wave of this Mark Zuckerberg fad? It is doubtful.
On the other hand, Meta can consolidate its strong position in the mixed reality market, with the Quest headsets on the one hand (even if these devices are more gifted for virtual reality) and the connected glasses on the other. Even if the Ray-Ban models are deprived of a screen, which could change in the coming months.
In any case, Reality Labs had its best year with a turnover slightly exceeding a billion dollars, with in particular a million Ray-Ban glasses sold. The division nevertheless continues to post abysmal losses: 17.7 billion in 2024! Mark Zuckerberg has nevertheless assured investors that 2025 will be a "pivotal year" for this activity.
Source: BusinessInsider
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