What you need to know
- Meta is laying off teams in its Reality Labs division as a part of its restructuring efforts.
- The Reality Labs division includes employees working in Oculus studios, Meta’s gaming wing.
- Meta’s spokesperson said that, “these changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience.”
Meta, on Thursday (April 24), laid off an unknown number of employees from its Reality Labs division, which includes employees working in Oculus studios, who are responsible for creating mixed reality wearables as well as games for Meta’s Quest VR headsets.
In an email to Android Central, Meta spokesperson said, “Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size,” the spokesperson said.
These cuts are meant to help the Oculus studios work more efficiently on delivering mixed reality experiences, Meta added.
Reuters noted that employees working on Supernatural, a VR fitness game, are among those impacted in the latest round of cuts. This was confirmed by Meta’s spokesperson as well.
They further added that, despite these cuts, “We remain committed to investing in mixed reality experiences, including fitness and games, and our drive to deliver the best experiences possible for the Quest and Supernatural communities remains unchanged.”
As of December last year, the company’s headcount grew by 10%, to 74,067. This comes after Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said that he would cut 5% of Meta’s lowest-performing employees and warned them that more cuts were slated for this year.
During Meta’s Q4 earnings call in January, the company stated that Reality Labs experienced a record-breaking revenue in 2024. This was driven by Meta Quest 3S and Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses sales, with Zuckerberg commenting that “the number of people using Quest and Horizon is steadily growing.” He further described 2025 as a “pivotal year for the metaverse” and teased the company launching more “visually stunning content” soon.
However, it is important to note that despite its great overall performance, the Reality Labs division operated at a loss in Q4, with operating expenses totaling nearly $5 billion.
In other news, Meta is slated to announce its Q1 earnings for this year on April 30, which could give us more insight as to what Reality Labs’ revenue looks like for this quarter.
