Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Inc., stated at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday that he is hopeful about the future of the metaverse over a “five-to-ten-year horizon” despite widespread skepticism of his company’s push into the technology.
“Skepticism doesn’t bother me too much,” Zuckerberg said, speaking to the event’s attendees virtually. “We’ve had doubters the whole time.”
Reality Labs, which is responsible for developing the metaverse and virtual and augmented reality headsets, constitutes only approximately 20% of the company’s investment portfolio, according to Zuckerberg, since social media remains the company’s top priority.
In October 2021, the company formerly known as Facebook changed its name to “Meta” to signal its transition to metaverse-related enterprises. Horizon Worlds has invested billions of dollars in its metaverse, but consumers have not flocked to the new platform.
Although the company’s original goal was to achieve 500,000 active monthly customers by the end of the year, as of October, that number was hovering around 200,000.
This has proven to be a pricey endeavor for the firm, which has invested at least $10 billion thus far.
Users continue to criticize the platform’s visuals and dearth of engaging activities. “Congratulations to Mark Zuckerberg for upgrading his Metaverse avatar from looking like a creepy PS1 era model to an Xbox360 default avatar,” wrote one Twitter user.
In early November, Meta also joined the list of large technology companies announcing significant layoffs, reducing its personnel by 11,000.
Zuckerberg addressed the layoffs on Wednesday, admitting that he had overlooked the severe economic downturns.
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