Facebook owner Meta has introduced a virtual reality (VR) subscription service as it attempts to turn that area of its business profitable.
According to Meta, paying subscribers will have access to two new games each month.
The parent company of Instagram experienced a $4 billion (£3 point 1 billion) loss at its VR division for the first three months of the year.
Technology giant Apple, which unveiled its highly anticipated mixed-reality headset this month, is one of the companies that compete with Meta.
The company declared on Monday that its Quest 2, Quest Pro, and upcoming Quest 3 headsets are all compatible with the Meta Quest+ service, which costs $7/month or $59/year.
The “metaverse,” a virtual environment where people can play games, work, and communicate, will be built, according to plans presented by Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2021.
“Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company and I want to anchor our work and our identity on what we’re building towards,” Mr Zuckerberg said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was hailed as “the key to unlocking the metaverse” by Mark Zuckerberg when Meta unveiled a number of ambitious AI projects in February of last year.
The company beat market expectations by reporting a $5.7 billion profit for the first three months of this year.
However, its Reality Labs division, which manufactures VR headsets and other products, reported a net loss of $4 billion for the quarter.
The Vision Pro mixed-reality headset was unveiled by Apple earlier this month, marking the company’s first major hardware launch in nearly a decade.
Early in the following year, Apple will launch its headset in the US for $3,499.
The cost of a Meta VR headset ranges from $299.99 to $999.99.
Source-BBC
