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Billions. Facebook has spent billions and billions over the past decade in VR. Starting with the Oculus merger and then in 2021 with the rebrand. 10 billion a

by kemotep 6mo ago

Billions. Facebook has spent billions and billions over the past decade in VR. Starting with the Oculus merger and then in 2021 with the rebrand. 10 billion a year supposedly for the past 5 years now.

EGreg 6mo ago
They could have just waited until AI came out, now they can spend $1 million on tokens and slop :)
xd1936 6mo ago
I meant hundreds of millions on Horizon Worlds specifically. Virtual concerts and the like. Big "Hello Fellow Kids" energy.
- tantalor 6mo ago
  Can you blame them? They saw the huge success Fortnite was having in that space. Facebook's core competency is copying other successful products. Sometimes it works.
  - tempest_ 6mo ago
    should have just bought epic then like they usually do
    - tantalor 6mo ago
      Indeed. Reportedly Epic was worth $31.5 billion in 2022. That's only ~1/3 what they spent on Metaverse.
Raed667 6mo ago
I kept saying to myself, they must be seeing something I'm not... I guess not
- ceejayoz 6mo ago
  "The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand." - All The President's Men
- bee_rider 6mo ago
  VR games are actually kind of neat and fun. But it’s too much of a hassle to set the thing up every time and, I dunno, the association with Facebook is too icky. It would have been really interesting to see what Oculus could have become without getting bought. I do think they were a little neat idea, not at all ready for Facebook sized projects.
  - m4rtink 6mo ago
    With modern inside out tracking headsets (basically camera based SLAM) the setup us none to minimal (clear up some space on the ground so you don't trip over things if not playing seated).
  - jrm4 6mo ago
    As I've heard and said elsewhere -- VR Games are absolutely like a day at the fair. But no one wants to go to the fair EVERY DAY.
    - spijdar 6mo ago
      This is a fantastic way of putting it. When I was 20, I preordered a pixel 2 after watching the launch presentation from my university library. One of the "bonuses" for doing so was Google's new headset you put your phone in for a VR experience, along with a new controller. This "Daydream" only lasted a few years (in software support), but it was a pretty good physical implementation of the "strap your phone to your face for budget VR" concept. I used it more than I'd care to admit for watching movies on a virtual big screen. It'd always give me a big headache between the eyes after an hour and a half, but it was fun every now and again. A day at the fair. It even convinced me to buy an Oculus CV1 when those were being heavily discounted! I never ended up using the CV1 as much as my Daydream, which is saying something. The appeal of VR just isn't that great to me. It's something I find myself wanting to do maybe once or twice a year. Now, never, since the CV1 only ever worked well with Windows, and I can't be bothered to keep a Windows install exclusively for VR (I've tried and failed multiple times with the Linux runtimes). Not nearly enough drive to deal with base stations, wires, or controllers. And even with the newest headsets that do away with all those, not worth the cash or effort to put on, or the space the headset takes up. Not for "once a month" trips to the fair. It's insane to me that Meta dumped so much cash into VR. Their fever dream of working in VR gives me a sense of dread and migraine just thinking about it...
reaperducer 6mo ago
[flagged]
- JCharante 6mo ago
  50 billion can't solve world hunger. It's not even a money issue.
  - reaperducer 6mo ago
    Since you're an expert, perhaps you'd like to share the magic number with the rest of us.
michelb 6mo ago
So, a fraction of the AI investments? It’s pretty clear where the focus is bow and who/what no longer has a future at Meta.
- TacticalCoder 6mo ago
  > So, a fraction of the AI investments? It’s pretty clear where the focus is bow and who/what no longer has a future at Meta. And the tens of billions spent on AI at Meta... As a result, we're all using "Meta Code CLI" and "ChatBook" and "Geminizuck" right? Seriously: while we're all on Claude Code using the Anthropic models and many are happy with Gemini and ChatGPT for other stuff, where is Meta's AI offering? I love their Segment Anything Models (SAM) but what the heck has Meta to answer to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI?
  - ehnto 6mo ago
    Do they need one do you think? They are trying to make one for sure but it's interesting to think about whether they actually need their own models to survive the shift. Maybe they just deliver other people's models via Meta products?
    - marcus_holmes 6mo ago
      It's about growth. Meta stock is priced as a growth stock - not on its current financial returns but on what the market believes it will do in the future. It has been priced like this from the start because it has been growing since the start. As soon as it stops being able to convince the market it is still growing, then the stock price drops to what the business's current financials dictate, which will be a huge drop. That huge drop has severe negative consequences for everyone involved in that decision. Spending tens of billions on the Metaverse project was better, even though it failed, because it created a growth story they could sell to the market. So now that's gone they need another growth story. Given the current state of the tech world, that's probably AI-related. And they probably need their own models as part of it. They can't just "survive the shift" because it's not really about survival. They need to be part of the shift, so that they can convince the market that they're still growing.
alexpotato 6mo ago
What's the quote: "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money."
jemmyw 6mo ago
Is that a bad thing? That's 10b that engineers and other employees now have and Facebook doesn't have. And while VR might never make them money, is it bad from our pov that they did the research and development?
- reverius42 6mo ago
  It's probably a bad thing for anyone who doesn't already own a house near Menlo Park and wants to buy one.
lm28469 6mo ago
I still remember the VR hype of 2015, they predicted a market size for 2017 that we won't even reach by 2027, and probably 2037
TiredOfLife 6mo ago
Not on Horizon Worlds
eclipxe 6mo ago
Reality Labs is more than VR

by kemotep 6mo ago

EGreg 6mo ago

They could have just waited until AI came out, now they can spend $1 million on tokens and slop :)

xd1936 6mo ago

I meant hundreds of millions on Horizon Worlds specifically. Virtual concerts and the like. Big "Hello Fellow Kids" energy.

tantalor 6mo ago
Can you blame them? They saw the huge success Fortnite was having in that space. Facebook's core competency is copying other successful products. Sometimes it works.
- tempest_ 6mo ago
  should have just bought epic then like they usually do
  - tantalor 6mo ago
    Indeed. Reportedly Epic was worth $31.5 billion in 2022. That's only ~1/3 what they spent on Metaverse.

Raed667 6mo ago

I kept saying to myself, they must be seeing something I'm not... I guess not

ceejayoz 6mo ago
"The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand." - All The President's Men
bee_rider 6mo ago
VR games are actually kind of neat and fun. But it’s too much of a hassle to set the thing up every time and, I dunno, the association with Facebook is too icky. It would have been really interesting to see what Oculus could have become without getting bought. I do think they were a little neat idea, not at all ready for Facebook sized projects.
- m4rtink 6mo ago
  With modern inside out tracking headsets (basically camera based SLAM) the setup us none to minimal (clear up some space on the ground so you don't trip over things if not playing seated).
- jrm4 6mo ago
  As I've heard and said elsewhere -- VR Games are absolutely like a day at the fair. But no one wants to go to the fair EVERY DAY.
  - spijdar 6mo ago
    This is a fantastic way of putting it. When I was 20, I preordered a pixel 2 after watching the launch presentation from my university library. One of the "bonuses" for doing so was Google's new headset you put your phone in for a VR experience, along with a new controller. This "Daydream" only lasted a few years (in software support), but it was a pretty good physical implementation of the "strap your phone to your face for budget VR" concept. I used it more than I'd care to admit for watching movies on a virtual big screen. It'd always give me a big headache between the eyes after an hour and a half, but it was fun every now and again. A day at the fair. It even convinced me to buy an Oculus CV1 when those were being heavily discounted! I never ended up using the CV1 as much as my Daydream, which is saying something. The appeal of VR just isn't that great to me. It's something I find myself wanting to do maybe once or twice a year. Now, never, since the CV1 only ever worked well with Windows, and I can't be bothered to keep a Windows install exclusively for VR (I've tried and failed multiple times with the Linux runtimes). Not nearly enough drive to deal with base stations, wires, or controllers. And even with the newest headsets that do away with all those, not worth the cash or effort to put on, or the space the headset takes up. Not for "once a month" trips to the fair. It's insane to me that Meta dumped so much cash into VR. Their fever dream of working in VR gives me a sense of dread and migraine just thinking about it...

reaperducer 6mo ago

[flagged]

JCharante 6mo ago
50 billion can't solve world hunger. It's not even a money issue.
- reaperducer 6mo ago
  Since you're an expert, perhaps you'd like to share the magic number with the rest of us.

michelb 6mo ago

So, a fraction of the AI investments? It’s pretty clear where the focus is bow and who/what no longer has a future at Meta.

TacticalCoder 6mo ago
> So, a fraction of the AI investments? It’s pretty clear where the focus is bow and who/what no longer has a future at Meta. And the tens of billions spent on AI at Meta... As a result, we're all using "Meta Code CLI" and "ChatBook" and "Geminizuck" right? Seriously: while we're all on Claude Code using the Anthropic models and many are happy with Gemini and ChatGPT for other stuff, where is Meta's AI offering? I love their Segment Anything Models (SAM) but what the heck has Meta to answer to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI?
- ehnto 6mo ago
  Do they need one do you think? They are trying to make one for sure but it's interesting to think about whether they actually need their own models to survive the shift. Maybe they just deliver other people's models via Meta products?
  - marcus_holmes 6mo ago
    It's about growth. Meta stock is priced as a growth stock - not on its current financial returns but on what the market believes it will do in the future. It has been priced like this from the start because it has been growing since the start. As soon as it stops being able to convince the market it is still growing, then the stock price drops to what the business's current financials dictate, which will be a huge drop. That huge drop has severe negative consequences for everyone involved in that decision. Spending tens of billions on the Metaverse project was better, even though it failed, because it created a growth story they could sell to the market. So now that's gone they need another growth story. Given the current state of the tech world, that's probably AI-related. And they probably need their own models as part of it. They can't just "survive the shift" because it's not really about survival. They need to be part of the shift, so that they can convince the market that they're still growing.

alexpotato 6mo ago

What's the quote: "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon you're talking about some real money."

jemmyw 6mo ago

Is that a bad thing? That's 10b that engineers and other employees now have and Facebook doesn't have. And while VR might never make them money, is it bad from our pov that they did the research and development?

reverius42 6mo ago
It's probably a bad thing for anyone who doesn't already own a house near Menlo Park and wants to buy one.

lm28469 6mo ago

I still remember the VR hype of 2015, they predicted a market size for 2017 that we won't even reach by 2027, and probably 2037

TiredOfLife 6mo ago

Not on Horizon Worlds

eclipxe 6mo ago

Reality Labs is more than VR