Meta’s revenues have been declining since Q4 2021, according to a new report released by the firm. The company’s metaverse project, Horizon Worlds, is said to be among the reasons, with results still disappointing.
Meta’s revenues have fallen again
Meta’s quarterly report to its investors clearly shows this drop in the giant’s revenues, which has been taking place since the last quarter of 2021:
Meta’s revenues in decline since end of 2021
Meta’s revenue is down from $6.6 billion to $4.3 billion quarter over quarter. This is the third time the company has experienced a sharp decline. As Meta’s CFO David Wehner confirmed, some of this drop is due to inflation. But a big factor to consider is the development of the company’s metaverse.
The metaverse is eating into Meta’s budget
As a reminder, it is a division of Meta, Reality Labs, that is in charge of this colossal project. In the last six months, it recorded a loss of 3.6 billion dollars. According to Mark Zuckerberg, the firm has a long-term vision. The CEO of Facebook considers that this investment will pay off in the future:
We’re clearly doing a big job. It’s a massive task, one that will often take multiple versions of the same product to achieve mass adoption. “
Zuckerberg is confident that the metaverse will shape new ways of “interacting with each other, and integrating technology into our lives.
A necessary confidence, when we see the first results of Meta’s metaverse, Horizon Worlds, which are rather disappointing. Recently, the vice-president in charge of the metaverse, Vishal Shah, was bitter about the lack of interest from users:
Why don’t we like the product, which we work so hard on, enough to use it all the time? The simple truth is, if we don’t like it, how can we expect our users to like it? “
Horizon Worlds only attracts about 300,000 users a month, a drop in the bucket compared to Facebook’s nearly 3 billion monthly active users.
It should also be said that Meta has invested heavily in technologies related to its virtual reality headsets. The company is aiming to make a splash, and recently shipped its Quest Pro, for the modest sum of $1,499 per headset.
Will the giant then manage to attract users to its metaverse? That remains to be seen. Mark Zuckerberg is confident, however, explaining: “I think our work will be historically significant.
