Aliens TLDR

It’s the sound of every Meta executive breathing a deep sigh of relief, because unlike last quarter , Facebook’s daily active users (DAUs) are up...

For the second time since its rebrand from Facebook, Meta has reported its quarterly earnings .

As CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained, the revenue from these apps is helping to fund Meta’s projects in virtual reality, which he is betting will become the company’s crown jewel in the future.

“This is laying the groundwork for what I expect to be a very exciting 2030.” Horizon Worlds, Meta’s social VR app, started rolling out creator monetization features late in the quarter, but those in-app purchases won’t move the needle much if the platform doesn’t significantly woo more users.

He conceded that because of these investments, Meta’s overall profitability won’t grow in 2022, especially since ad revenue hasn’t grown as fast as expected.

The combination of increased DAUs and lower-than-expected ad revenue can be explained by the fact that Meta’s apps are growing in regions like the Asia-Pacific region, where ads cost less, rather than the U.S. and Europe.

The Meta Quest 2 had a big bump in sales during the holiday season, and the company is already looking toward releasing its newest headset later this year, codenamed “ Project Cambria .” Zuckerberg said that the new, premium headset will be “focused on work use cases and eventually replacing your laptop or work setup.” Meta is also building eye-tracking and face-tracking so that when you’re socializing in VR, people will be able to perceive your real-life facial expressions.

“I’m just trying to lead the company in a way where we’re positioning ourselves as the premier company for building the future of social interaction and the metaverse,” Zuckerberg said.