Meta reportedly plans to lay off about 10% of staff in its Metaverse division this week, with the tech giant focusing resources on artificial intelligence.
The New York Times reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Meta could announce layoffs as soon as Tuesday.
Meta's Reality Labs employs approximately 15,000 people. The division focuses on virtual reality (VR) equipment, such as headsets, as well as operating the company's Metaverse platforms, Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms.
Approximately 10% of the division's workforce, or approximately 1,500 people, will be cut.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Mehta for comment.
Meta to reduce metaverse budget
Meta has been gradually reducing its Metaverse budget over the past year as it ramps up its focus on artificial intelligence (AI).
Meta's stock price soared in early December after reports emerged that the company may be cutting its Metaverse budget by 30% and reallocating the funds to AI.
The NYT report also said Meta plans to reallocate some of the funding from Reality Labs to increase the budget for its wearables division, which will focus on smart glasses and wrist-worn devices such as the Meta Neural Band.
Boxing in the meta metaverse. sauce: meta
The company, formerly known as Facebook, changed its name to Meta in October 2021 as part of a major shift from social media to the Metaverse, VR, and augmented reality.
Meta has lost more than $70 billion at Reality Labs since the division was launched in August 2020, and the division posted an operating loss worth $4.4 billion in Meta's last financial report in Q3 2025.
At the time, Metaverse was one of the trendiest areas in cryptocurrencies and traditional technology, but user adoption had not reached mainstream levels.
Currently, gaming-oriented Metaverse platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite dominate the market, with hundreds of millions of daily active users. However, these platforms are outliers, and usage metrics for other sectors are very small by comparison.
Meanwhile, popular blockchain metaverses such as The Sandbox saw only 776 unique active wallets engage with the platform in the past 30 days, according to data from DappRadar. Some claim that Horizon Worlds on Meta has fewer than 900 daily active users.
Meta may be cooling its enthusiasm for the Metaverse, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains bullish on Metaverse's growth potential, once calling 2025 a “pivotal year” for the industry.
