Meta will reportedly lay off 10% of Reality Labs employees

The New York Times reports that Meta is laying off 10% of employees in its Reality Labs division, a core division for developing the company’s virtual reality and metaverse products.

The post noted that Reality Labs had approximately 15,000 employees, and that the job cuts could affect more than 1,000 people.

Separately, CNBC reported that the company plans to shutter studios like Armature Studio, Twisted Pixel, and Sanzaru, along with a technical unit called Oculus Studios Central Technology, which has been working on virtual reality titles. Andrew Bosworth, the company’s CTO and president of Reality Labs, called the “most important” in-person meeting of the year on January 14, Business Insider reported.

The New York Times reported that the job cuts will not affect people who work in augmented reality, as the company has great ambitions to develop glasses and controllers. The report also indicated that the money saved from these cuts will be used to develop augmented reality.

This news comes as Meta, which completely rebranded from a focus on the Metaverse in 2021, is pouring its resources into AI development. In October, the company moved Metaverse president Vishal Shah to oversee AI products as vice president, and last year, it reorganized to create Superintelligence Labs after taking over Alexander Wang from Scale AI. The company continued to offer the best offers to researchers working in other laboratories to attract them to join Meta.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.