According to Cointelegraph, Meta’s Reality Labs division has stopped development of the next generation of headsets due to concerns that sales will not be enough to support production costs. The decision was made after a product update meeting involving CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Although top tech companies including Sony, HTC, Meta and Google are involved in the development of virtual reality hardware, VR remains a niche market. Consumer adoption of VR has been slow, in part due to VR sickness and reluctance to wear the devices in public.

Meta and RayBan have had some success integrating AI technology into fashionable glasses, but it remains to be seen when VR will have a breakthrough similar to the iPhone. Developers generally take a "build first, use later" approach, but there is a lack of killer applications.

In the Web3 industry, developing cross-device metaverse experiences is common practice to attract interest in platforms, products and services. However, the disconnect between large tech companies and hardware development by independent developers and small Web3 companies may lead to continued consumer disinterest.