Meta Reaffirms Commitment to Future VR Headsets Despite Reduced Investment

Meta is not putting a stop on building newer VR headsets. During the recent Q4 2025 earnings call, CFO Susan Li addressed questions said they are optimistic of the future of VR. She further highlighted the company’s direction for Reality Labs.

In response to a specific query, she pointed out that VR adoption has been relatively slower as expected. The consumer base being targeted is right, but the adoption power is less in this space. Wearables, on the other hand, are seeing traction and hence investments in those areas are expected to go up in 2026. While they will reduce investments in VR and Horizon products, they will keep working on any new technology that could enhance the experience.

The shift was announced in December and actions on it have already begun. Meta closed down three VR game studios it had acquired and laid off the staff at many centres. They even took an investment cut to its games as they cancelled the sequel to Batman: Arkham Shadow. Another area where the cuts are quite visible, is the closure of Horizon Workrooms. They even cancelled the Quest for business. These decisions followed a year where Quest headset sales declined compared to 2024, while Ray Ban Meta smart glasses saw significant growth. This shows why the company has rerouted the approach.

Despite these changes, Meta leadership maintains that VR remains part of the company’s long-term strategy. During the same earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the reduced spending is intended to move VR toward becoming a profitable ecosystem over time. Reality Labs recorded close to seven billion dollars in spending during Q4, against revenue of just under one billion dollars, resulting in a large quarterly loss. Much of that spending, however, continues to go toward research and development.

Meta views advanced AR glasses as a key future product category and believes the heavy investment today will define the next phase of personal computing. Zuckerberg told investors that Reality Labs losses are expected to peak in 2026, with Susan Li adding that the company expects those losses to begin declining in 2027, depending on market conditions.

Li’s mention of “future headsets” has also drawn attention. Internal reports from late last year suggested Meta is working on more than one device, including an ultralight headset with a tethered computing puck and a more traditional Quest headset focused on immersive gaming. That gaming-focused device is reportedly planned as a major upgrade over Quest 3 and is expected to launch later in the decade at a higher price point.

While Meta has not officially detailed its upcoming hardware roadmap, the company’s comments suggest VR development is continuing, even if at a more measured pace.