Meta fired an employee in the Reality Labs division, which covers a variety of virtual and augmented reality projects on Thursday. Cuts affect employees within Oculus Studios, who develop apps and games for Meta Quest Headsets.
Meta did not specify the number of people affected by the layoffs, but said that the cut had an impact on people working on quest products with the supernatural, including the VR exercise app. Meta was acquired in 2023 within the company that makes the supernatural.
“Some teams within Oculus Studios are experiencing changes in structure and roles that have affected team size,” Meta told TechCrunch in a statement. “These changes are intended to help studios work more efficiently with their future mixed reality experiences.
Reality Labs is a huge cost for Meta, losing around $5 billion in the last quarter of 2024, generating around $1 billion in sales. Meta reports billions of operating losses at Reality Labs each year since highlighting its rebranding and commitment to “metaverse.”
These layoffs come ahead of Meta’s first quarter revenue report next week, where the company may face scrutiny about the real-world lab growth costs.
Meta told TechCrunch that layoff employees have the opportunity to apply for other jobs at the company.
For supernatural users, layoffs mean that the app generates new training per week. However, each workout is available at a more diverse skill level, rather than one difficulty level per workout. The app also said in a Facebook post that coaches who run app workouts are not affected by layoffs.