Oculus founder calls Meta Quest layoffs ‘Not a disaster’ — but I still can’t see it as anything but terrible

• Palmer Luckey doesn't think the Meta layoffs will be a bad thing for VR
• The Oculus founder shared his thoughts on social media
• This writer doesn't share his optimism, unfortunately

We’re still reeling from Meta closing down multiple first-party VR software studios, but at a time when it feels like VR is on a serious downswing some are choosing to look on the bright side – and argue that this is in fact a good thing for the industry.

A loud voice in that crowd is Palmer Luckey – the founder of Oculus VR, who later founded military contractor Anduril Industries after being fired by Facebook in 2017 after it acquired Oculus – who took to social media to say that the layoffs are “Not a disaster.”

He added, “I think this is a good decision, and I thought the same back when I was still at Oculus.” He explained further down in his lengthy post that, “Every developer big and small, even the hyper-efficient ones, have had an extremely hard time competing with games developed by Meta-owned teams with budgets and teams that spend vastly in excess of earning potential.”

Luckey is not the first person to highlight these issues with Meta’s strategy. We know it has been throwing money at VR in a way that many other developers – both on the hardware and software side – simply can’t. In turn this has created a de facto one-party system.

Why buy anything other than a Meta Quest headset when it boasts the best software support, and the best hardware (or close to the best) for the price being charged?

Though when it comes to the Quest ecosystem specifically, the games produced from these studios were hardly “Crowding out the rest of the entire ecosystem” as Luckey put it. One, maybe two VR games a year from Meta itself aren’t drowning out the slew of amazing VR games and apps out there – but the deluge of Horizon Worlds and free slop software clogging up prime spots in the Meta Store and promotional carousels certainly are, and according to UploadVR reporting, many developers were complaining about this even a year ago.

While free-to-play titles will keep some users active, big tentpole attractions are what get people in – especially the likes of Batman: Arkham Shadow, or Marvel’s Deadpool VR with very recognizable IP. However with VR still in its relatively fledgling stage you need investment to make these tentpole titles happen.

Now without those teams making the easily recognizable franchises that convince people to dip their toes into VR, I can see VR’s popularity taking a nosedive.

What’s more, looking at crowding out from a hardware perspective you see Meta has also canned its third-party HorizonOS headsets – devices which would have seriously helped VR not feel like a one-horse race.

Taken individually I could perhaps understand the silver linings folks like Luckey are seeing. Looking at the bigger picture though, the dark clouds do look to stretch for miles in every direction.

A move in a new direction, or more missteps?

This is also not considering the smart glasses aspect of Meta's mistake, and how the VR expertise it just lost could have played a vital part in its alternative XR future.

Especially with display glasses seemingly set to become the next big thing, Meta will want content for its smart specs, and games and fitness apps will be essential here just as they were in VR.

Imagine being able to have a virtual Supernatural coach help you run through a workout in your local park in AR, or some kind of IRL AR multiplayer game which was developed using the spatial computing expertise of the very studios Meta just shuttered.

To that end this move, again, doesn’t seem all too sensible.

Meta has arguably made a lot of missteps with the Quest headsets. It's got a lot right too, but essential services like productivity and entertainment have fallen behind compared to the smart glasses rivals I’ve tested.

But as many have said, it feels like Meta has decided to refocus away from VR, and unlike Luckey I don’t believe this is good for the industry. I hope that I’m wrong, but the more I think about the wider space – in particular the rise of glasses over headsets – I can’t help but feel like this is a death knell for VR, with the space potentially set to hit an ice age that’ll last many years before we possibly things return to normal.

Maybe, hopefully, I’m wrong. There are still plenty of excellent third-party VR developers out there, and we have the Steam Frame set to land later this year, so perhaps they’ll keep the flag flying. I’m just not feeling all too optimistic right now.

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