One of Meta’s core goals is to facilitate the “metaverse,” where people can hang out and work in a digital world while wearing VR headsets, but many of its employees aren’t using them , Bloomberg reports.
According to 11 current and former employees who spoke on condition of anonymity with Bloomberg, teams across the company, including its VR section, have not been regularly using them for work. As noted in the report, Meta provides headsets to employees if they’ve signed up for an internal program to test new features before the public.
A revealing nugget from the report is that Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg’s team briefly “tried” experimental VR meetings before abandoning it because staffers found it “uncomfortable and glitchy.” One employee said that even the team demonstrating the headsets in sales pitches for clients like Walmart and consulting firm Accenture aren’t using the products in their day-to-day work.
Meta, which last week revealed its latest Meta Quest headset, did not immediately respond to PCMag’s request for comment on internal headset usage numbers.
Given Meta’s reported plans to move more of its work in-person, uptake of the VR headsets might struggle further. From September, Meta is set to require that most of its employees come into the office at least three days a week.
The hesitancy to take up the headsets could be explained by a range of factors. For one, they can cause nausea and discomfort (Meta actually advises users to take an extended break every 30 minutes). According to some employees, appearing as a legless cartoon avatar feels “weird and unprofessional, while wearing the headset has been described as “embarrassing.”
The insight comes after the company’s Reality Labs VR and AR division lost a hefty $13.7 billion in 2022, $3.5 billion more than the $10.2 billion operating loss it recorded in 2021.
Meanwhile, as Apple gets ready to launch its rumored VR headset, the iPhone-maker is reportedly set to issue it with multiple usage warnings. Folks with a range of health issues—including inner ear infections, ADHD/ADD, and anxiety, among many others—may want to avoid use.
