VirtualOdour ,

Business lesson, : never build a factory because it won't pay for itself in the first year.

And yes I know it's hard to hear but Meta's vr is doing really well in the areas they targeted, industry, academia, and special use. This is likely to end up a profitable part of their business for a long time.

kellenoffdagrid ,
@kellenoffdagrid@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Yeah unfortunately I agree, as much as I dread knowing Meta's going to be behind a lot of the VR/AR developments as it gets more common, this isn't really an indication that they screwed up. They're not the first company I'd want to lead the VR market but it looks like they will be regardless.

exanime ,

As others have said, the implication in this article's title is silly... Surely an r&d phase start easily explains this

What I'm curious about is how you spend that much money in such little time? Was that money actually spent or just committed?

NoSpiritAnimal ,
@NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world avatar

$1900 per second is a hell of a burn rate for anything outside the US military

kava ,

It's sort of like how YouTube ran at a loss for a long time. The idea is to get ingrained in the market and make up the money later.

Right now Meta has the best VR / AR that is easily accessible. If some new idea or technology catapults VR into a more popular position, then Meta is in a prime position to take advantage.

Will that happen? I don't know, but Meta seems to think so.

Gigan ,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

I don't think the technology is there yet. As long as people need to wear big bulky goggles and headsets it's not going to take off. Make something that's about as cumbersome as sunglasses and less than $1000 and there might be mass adoption.

SebKra ,

March 2023 they sold 20M Quests. Half as many as PS5. That counts as "taken off" in my book.

Gigan ,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

Wow, I'm shocked it's that high. I've never heard of someone using one.

n3m37h ,

Daily active users are a much better indicator of success.

Halo infinite had a peak player count if 272,000. Now it sees DAU of only 3,000

makyo ,

There are a lot of problems keeping VR from going big and I think Meta's strategy of cornering the market is one of them. They think if they get all the exclusives they'll be the next iPhone but I think instead they're fragmenting an already tiny market which really needs a bunch of impressive experiences (and there still aren't a ton right now, even after years of VR development). I feel like the reverse would win them more users - they should win on hardware AND software but make their software available for any VR headset to use. Because right now they need to help create a market for VR because there really isn't one worth cornering yet.

madasi ,

They just announced that they opened up the OS for other manufacturers to use. I know Asus/ROG is supposed to have a headset in the works using the OS.

n3m37h ,

So they want to be the Microcrap of the VR world?

Nah I'm good, let me know when we get a Linux of the VR world

FellowEnt ,

Steam VR not good enough for ya?

n3m37h ,

Its probably great but when you need to set up a specific room, it makes it inaccessible for most people

Blue_Morpho ,

??? You don't need a specific room. Quest doesn't need any beacons or wires.

I don't like Facebook, never had a Facebook account and refused to buy their VR until they removed the Facebook account requirement 2 years ago.

But the hardware is excellent for the price. Facebook is selling the hardware at a loss and making it up in software sales. So you are hurting Facebook by buying their hardware and using it with Steam.

n3m37h ,

Sorry, was referring to Valve Index. Did not realize you can use SteamVR on on the Quest

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