alt Hacker NewsThere is some sense in it and I’m surprised by all the naysayers here.
For starters, Quest is by far the biggest selling VR/XR headset. So he is already seeing some success here.
And as we’ve seen before, Facebook isn’t going to dominate forever. It makes complete sense throwing large sums of money at future technology while you still have large sums of money to burn.
Chasing new technology when you’re already behind and your revenue is decline is a guaranteed way to fail.
Moonshots like this you waste a tonne of money when that money is comparatively cheap anyway. Plus it keeps people talking about your business, which is never a bad thing.
Replies
Critically, in my estimation: Facebook/Instagram is delivered on phones, browsers, and PCs not owned by Meta. Boardroom politics could tank huge chunks of their business model without recourse.
Meta establishing VR and the underlying ecosystem, building a moat, makes lots of long term sense (if they succeed).
They have lost $68 billion (not spent, lost) on this project [0]. For that money they could have bought EA, owned its cash flows and still have $8 billion left over.
[0] https://www.ft.com/content/df26fc4c-5488-4994-b2b8-be4bfbda2...