Meta to Allocate $19B for Metaverse Businesses in 2023

With an eye toward future success, Meta Platforms will keep pouring resources into the metaverse. On Monday, Reality Labs’ CTO Andrew Bosworth wrote in a blog post that the company might allocate 20% of its 2023 budget toward its metaverse business.

This news comes after Zuckerberg’s statement earlier this month that despite Meta’s “massive” investment in the metaverse, the business only devotes 20% of its resources on developing hardware and software for the 3D virtual realm. 

Additionally, an estimation by Dr. Richard Windsor of Radio Free Mobile reveals that if Meta devotes 20% of its 2023 budget on the metaverse, it will cost $19 billion.

As of last November, the company had projected total expenses for 2022 to be between $85 billion to $87 billion, which is an increase of almost $15 billion from 2021. According to Windsor’s projections, spending in 2023 will rise by $10–$15 billion, reaching roughly $97.3 billion.

The first three quarters of 2022 saw Reality Labs incur costs and expenses of around $10.8 billion, leading to a net loss of nearly $9.4 billion. Nonetheless, Bosworth, believes that the scepticism surrounding the metaverse industry is exaggerated. 

He said that “economic challenges across the world, combined with pressures on Meta’s core business, created a perfect storm of scepticism about the investments we’re making.”

Bosworth condemns the role of  short-termism becuase of its disastrous results.

He states: 

“We’ve all seen the disastrous consequences of this kind of short-term thinking: hollowed-out companies that gave up on innovating long ago, content to just turn the crank on an existing business until it stops working.”

Meta is not the Only Company Bullish on Metaverse

Meanwhile, Booking.com, an online travel service, has surveyed its customers and found that the Metaverse will have an impact on travel plans in 2023. Metaverse would assist passengers choose real-world destinations. 

However, in 2023, hackers would use the Metaverse to assault unsuspecting users, according to a report titled “Consumer Cyberthreats: Predictions for 2023” by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.