Meta has announced a strategic pivot away from its metaverse ambitions, acknowledging that the vision of immersive virtual worlds has not materialized as quickly as expected. The company will redirect billions in annual investment from Reality Labs to artificial intelligence and its core social media platforms.

The decision marks a significant retreat for Mark Zuckerberg, who renamed Facebook to Meta in 2021 and declared the metaverse would be the next major computing platform. Reality Labs has lost over $50 billion since 2020 with limited revenue to show for the investment.

"We remain believers in the long-term vision, but we need to be realistic about timelines," Zuckerberg said in a statement.