Meta cut about 10% of its Reality Labs division, approximately 1,500 employees, as part of a shift from Metaverse investment toward AI and wearables. CTO Andrew Bosworth announced the layoffs in an internal post, stating the company plans to 'reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables.'
company
Oculus VR
Virtual reality hardware and software company owned by Meta Platforms. Founded by Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov, Nate Mitchell, and Andrew Scott Reisse in July 2012 in Irvine, California. Announced acquisition by Facebook for approximately billion in March 2014 (completed July 2014), consisting of million cash, .6 billion in Facebook stock, and million in earn-out milestones. The company pioneered modern consumer VR with the Oculus Rift development kit. Now operates as Meta's Reality Labs division, producing Meta Quest headsets (formerly Oculus Quest), which dominate the consumer VR market. The division also develops VR software, games, and metaverse experiences.
Notable Alumni
Related Entities
Track Record
In September 2020, Meta/Facebook announced Quest 2 would require mandatory Facebook account login with real name policy, eliminating ability to use VR anonymously. Automated verification system falsely banned legitimate users, leaving $300+ devices unusable as 'paperweights.' Policy forced users to link personal Facebook data to VR biometric data. Criticized by EFF and Mozilla Foundation. Meta reversed policy in August 2022 after two years of user backlash, allowing Meta accounts without Facebook connection.
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Extensive collection of VR biometric data including eye tracking, hand movements, and physical dimensions
Jan 1, 2020Oculus/Meta Quest devices collect extensive personally identifiable biometric data including eye tracking, hand size and movement, physical dimensions, play area dimensions, and environmental data. Research shows VR tracking data can identify users with 95% accuracy from less than 5 minutes of data. A 20-minute VR session records 2 million data points. Unlike medical data, VR tracking data is unregulated. Mozilla Foundation and EFF criticized Meta's approach, noting company's poor privacy track record makes this data collection particularly concerning. Data combined with Facebook's existing surveillance infrastructure.