Comment by kemotep
5 days ago
Billions. Facebook has spent billions and billions over the past decade in VR. Starting with the Oculus merger and then in 2021 with the rebrand.
10 billion a year supposedly for the past 5 years now.
5 days ago
Billions. Facebook has spent billions and billions over the past decade in VR. Starting with the Oculus merger and then in 2021 with the rebrand.
10 billion a year supposedly for the past 5 years now.
I kept saying to myself, they must be seeing something I'm not... I guess not
VR games are actually kind of neat and fun. But it’s too much of a hassle to set the thing up every time and, I dunno, the association with Facebook is too icky.
It would have been really interesting to see what Oculus could have become without getting bought. I do think they were a little neat idea, not at all ready for Facebook sized projects.
As I've heard and said elsewhere -- VR Games are absolutely like a day at the fair. But no one wants to go to the fair EVERY DAY.
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With modern inside out tracking headsets (basically camera based SLAM) the setup us none to minimal (clear up some space on the ground so you don't trip over things if not playing seated).
PCVR is a hassle. Meta VR is simple convenient, and instant by comparison. I was able to use it everyday to workout.
The problem with VR in general is that only children, Gen Alpha, are into it as a demographic. Meta failed to take this into account to reposition Meta VR as either their NES or Roblox into their marketing. They were marketing something only children appreciated to adults who couldn’t see the potential. All adults see is a giant bucket that they don’t want to put on their face.
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"The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand."
- All The President's Men
Sometimes it’s just a jobs program to keep people busy so that they can’t build something else that can threaten your business
If this were remotely true, there wouldn't have huge layoff rounds. The opposite is true: they hire thousands upon thousands of people and teach them how to build scalable software, and then set them loose. I'm frankly surprised by the lack of competition, but I suppose that's gated at multiple levels (visas, personal risk, funding, network effects, etc)
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That was more an issue when rates were low and borrowing capital was “free”.
I am more leaning towards them simply having infinitely more money than sense. So they keep throwing it at anything that looks like it could be something. Well same goes for Google...
The product isn't Facebook, Quest, or Instagram. The product isn't advertising. The product isn't even people.
The product is the stock price.
Viewed through that lens, keeping the hype going at all costs makes sense.
The product is a platform Meta control free of Windows, Google or Apple.
That's what meta(verse) was suppose to build.
Yea - and what a foolproof product. Chase $HYPE, boost stock price, quietly deprecate $HYPE in favor of $NEXT_HYPE, stock doesn't correct, just goes up more
you could do this forever!
There is. Reality Labs is not just VR. There are several divisions doing things non VR related. These areas have significant investment.
For now.
Is that a bad thing? That's 10b that engineers and other employees now have and Facebook doesn't have. And while VR might never make them money, is it bad from our pov that they did the research and development?
It's probably a bad thing for anyone who doesn't already own a house near Menlo Park and wants to buy one.
So, a fraction of the AI investments? It’s pretty clear where the focus is bow and who/what no longer has a future at Meta.
> So, a fraction of the AI investments? It’s pretty clear where the focus is bow and who/what no longer has a future at Meta.
And the tens of billions spent on AI at Meta... As a result, we're all using "Meta Code CLI" and "ChatBook" and "Geminizuck" right?
Seriously: while we're all on Claude Code using the Anthropic models and many are happy with Gemini and ChatGPT for other stuff, where is Meta's AI offering? I love their Segment Anything Models (SAM) but what the heck has Meta to answer to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI?
Do they need one do you think? They are trying to make one for sure but it's interesting to think about whether they actually need their own models to survive the shift. Maybe they just deliver other people's models via Meta products?
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I always assumed their free open weight models were either a prestige thing or else part of a poorly executed commoditize-your-complements strategy.
Sure they are spending like crazy. I do think now they have bought Manus, they will try to compete. We'll have to see what all the talent they bought is going to create.
> a fraction of the AI investments
you realize 99% of those announced "investments" have yet to occur as recognizable transactions, correct?
Meanwhile, the barrel of $70b in metaverse waste was actually spent
They already hold a lot of the debt for the AI investments, is my understanding. I guess they could pay it back and not spend it.
What's the quote:
"A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money."
I meant hundreds of millions on Horizon Worlds specifically. Virtual concerts and the like. Big "Hello Fellow Kids" energy.
Can you blame them? They saw the huge success Fortnite was having in that space.
Facebook's core competency is copying other successful products. Sometimes it works.
should have just bought epic then like they usually do
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Reality Labs is more than VR
Not on Horizon Worlds
They could have just waited until AI came out, now they can spend $1 million on tokens and slop :)
I still remember the VR hype of 2015, they predicted a market size for 2017 that we won't even reach by 2027, and probably 2037
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50 billion can't solve world hunger. It's not even a money issue.
Since you're an expert, perhaps you'd like to share the magic number with the rest of us.