For the first time, a top Meta executive has spoken candidly about the recent round of layoffs in the division which inspired the company’s name change. As reported by Bloomberg, Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth addressed the issue during a Q&A on his Instagram story, responding to concerns about the future of Quest and gaming. Bosworth admitted that while much of the ‘doom and gloom’ surrounding Meta’s metaverse ambitions was ‘overwrought’ the cuts to Reality Labs, the unit behind Meta’s VR and metaverse projects were painful. “There is a real cause for sadness here,” he said, noting that many employees had been working on projects Meta was once excited to bring to market.

Billions spend and billions lost

For the uninitiated, Facebook-parent Meta poured into its metaverse vision, even renaming the company to reflect its commitment. But Reality Labs has accumulated more than $70 billion in losses since 2020 and Bosworth acknowledged that the ecosystem was growing ‘more slowly than we hand hoped’. “The investment that we put in is bigger than the growth that this ecosystem will allow,” Bosworth explained. “That’s a real loss. We are allowed to feel sad about those things.”

Product pullbacks and strategy shift

The company has already cut several VR products including its virtual workplace and fitness apps, signalling a retreat from its most ambitious bets. Bosworth admitted Meta’s vision for Horizon and VR was ‘too much’, but insisted the company remains committed to the space. “Yes, we’ve receded from the high watermark, but we are still very much a net positive investor in the ecosystem,” he said, adding that Meta continues to invest more in VR content than any competitor.Reality Labs also houses Meta’s AI glasses initiative, which has expanded rapidly. Some observers speculated that the push into wearables might come at the expense of VR. Bosworth rejected that idea, saying the two are not “zero-sum.” “If VR were growing at the rate we all wish it were, we probably wouldn’t have made these changes, and wearables would still be growing a ton,” he explained.

A make-or-break moment

Bosworth has previously described 2025 as a make-or-break year for Meta’s metaverse ambitions, writing in a memo that it would determine whether the effort was “the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure.” His latest comments suggest tempered optimism, stressing that Meta must now align its investments with the actual pace of growth.“It doesn’t mean we’re going to invest infinitely, forever,” Bosworth said. “We do need to have our investment match the size of growth.”