What actually happened to Mark Zuckerberg's $47 billion Metaverse?

There was a time when Mark Zuckerberg’s highly anticipated Metaverse was the talk of the town, particularly after the tech mogul invested a colossal $47 billion into the project with lofty ambitions.

To jog your memory, the Metaverse was meant to offer a blend of 2D and 3D experiences, alongside interactions with the physical world. It promised to create virtual spaces where people could meet, shop, work, and play in ways that had never been possible before.

However, in recent months, it seems as though the once eagerly awaited Metaverse has taken a back seat, despite Meta’s assurances that the project is still very much under development.

Last year at the World Economic Forum, Meta's head of global advertising relationships, Nicola Mendelsohn, said it will take around 10 years for the Metaverse to fully take off.

"We've been on a journey of over a decade, both with the work that we're doing in our Reality Labs and also in the work and the investments that we're making in AI," she said at the time.

It was reported in February this year that Horizon Worlds - the online virtual reality game developed by Meta - lost nearly $70 billion over the last few years.

Now, The Verge has reported that Meta laid off a number of employees in its Reality Labs division.

"Some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size,” Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton told the publication. “These changes are meant to help Studios work more efficiently on future mixed reality experiences for our growing audience, while still delivering great content for people today. 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.”

Meta is reportedly still invested in the future of the Metaverse, despite drastic losses of almost $50 billion since 2019.

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