Meta Pivots from VR to AI and Everyday AR Glasses Meta’s leadership set a new goal: artificial intelligence and daily‑wear AR glasses, not VR gaming. Game teams were laid off and projects shuttered, showing VR was only a stepping stone toward the next mass platform—glasses that replace the smartphone. After years of exploring many form factors, the company chose a single focus, and it isn’t VR.
The Subsidized Oasis Dries Up: Oculus City Faces Slow Decline Imagine consumer VR as a desert where small settlements grew until a billionaire bought Oculus and built a subsidized city of cheap towers, attractions, and spectacle. That city never became self‑sustaining and demanded billions yearly; now funding is cut across internal games, third‑party grants, multiple divisions, and even Quest for Business. The city will slowly empty but won’t vanish: Quests will keep working, the store remains, and new indie releases will still appear. Expect a sharp pullback to the organic baseline reached by PC VR and Steam before growth resumes.
Big VR Epics Were Meta‑Funded Swan Songs Large, narrative VR adventures like Batman and Deadpool existed because Meta bankrolled them, delivering multi‑hour stories with voice acting and big‑name talent. With that support gone, comparable productions are unlikely for at least the next five years. The market cannot finance that scope on its own right now, so VR will lean on smaller projects while it rebuilds organically.
Valve and Sony Won’t Save VR; Slow Organic Growth Remains Dreams of a Valve‑led revival ignore the economics: big games take years and lots of money, funding for VR is scarce, PC VR’s audience is small, and Valve isn’t offering fee cuts or sponsorships. Even if Valve’s upcoming device—likened to a Steam Deck with a big screen—sells well, it won’t unleash big‑budget VR, and flat games will remain its main revenue driver. Sony deprioritized PSVR2 within a year, HTC pivoted to enterprise, and players like Play for Dream, Apple, and Samsung focus on glasses. Meta will keep building VR hardware, but the next headset will likely target media and everyday use rather than games, more Vision Pro than Quest. Expect slow organic growth and a 5–10 year wait for new AAA VR, with the Quest era of gaming effectively over.