Meta has initiated a new round of layoffs within its Reality Labs division. The move reportedly impacts employees involved in virtual reality (VR) projects, including those working on the VR fitness app Supernatural, reports The Verge. As per an announcement made in Supernatural’s official Facebook community, “these changes are meant to help us work more efficiently on what the future of fitness could be.”
The layoffs primarily affect teams within Oculus Studios, which is Meta’s in-house game development unit responsible for creating content for Quest VR headsets. In fact, employees working on titles like Supernatural (which Meta acquired for over $400 million in 2023) are among those impacted.
Notably, this restructuring follows significant financial losses in Meta’s Reality Labs division, which reported a $5 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2024. Previously, the company has also faced challenges in developing custom silicon for its AR/VR devices. The Facebook Agile Silicon Team (FAST), responsible for creating proprietary chips, has reportedly struggled to produce components that can compete with those from external providers. As a result, the social media giant has relied on chipmaker Qualcomm for its current devices.
However, despite these setbacks, CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains committed to the company’s long-term strategy centered on augmented and virtual reality technologies. Recently, the Zuckerberg-led company announced a major expansion of its Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, introducing advanced AI features and preparing for launches in new markets, including India, Mexico, and the United Arab Emirates. The company rolled out the ‘Live Translation’ feature to all Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses users worldwide.
Meanwhile, before this latest development, Meta already rearranged Reality Labs into two primary groups – the Metaverse division (containing the Quest headset line and Horizon platforms) and the Wearables division (which includes smart glasses developed in collaboration with Ray-Ban). This restructuring aims to create a more integrated product experience across hardware, software, and user experiences.
It is important to note that Meta has undergone several major rounds of layoffs in recent years. In February 2025, the company laid off around 3,600 employees (about 5% of its global workforce). Even in 2024, the firm implemented targeted layoffs across its Instagram, WhatsApp, and Reality Labs divisions. Also, the company had previously laid off 11,000 employees in 2022 and an additional 10,000 in 2023.
Interestingly, the latest job cuts come just a day after Meta was slammed with a 200 million euro ($228 million) fine by the EU for violations under the Digital Markets Act. The commission fined the company for its ad-free services model on Instagram and Facebook, which it argues violates the tech law.
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