"I can tell you personally that we are not getting out of VR," says Meta Developer Advocate just one week after the brand laid off more than 1,000 Reality Labs employees

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"I can tell you personally that we are not getting out of VR," says Meta Developer Advocate just one week after the brand laid off more than 1,000 Reality Labs employees News By Duncan Robertson published 21 January 2026

"I can’t speak to broader strategy, but my role and team are fully focused on VR"

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Last week, Meta issued mass layoffs to its mixed reality workforce. Its three biggest VR game dev studios, the creators of Asgard's Wrath, Deadpool VR, and The Walking Dead 4 VR, were all disbanded, while wider Reality Labs employees lost their jobs. This led many onlookers to worry that, thanks to the Metaverse's failure, the brand's best VR headsets will now receive limited ongoing support.

Amidst all of this news, we've had a lack of official communication from Meta about where its VR ambitions lie from here on out. One employee, however, has broken silence on Twitter (X), which might hint at the future development of software for the Quest 3 devices.

Matt, I can tell you personally that we are not getting out of VR 😉 I’ve been assigned to a team that is fully focused on VR programs and education. Hopefully, this helps answer your question. https://t.co/ZXjLgiWr89January 20, 2026

Replying to a VR content creator who had pointed out the lack of comms from Meta, Dilmer Valecillos, Developer Advocate for the company, said, "I can tell you personally that we are not getting out of VR. I’ve been assigned to a team that is fully focused on VR programs and education."

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Replying to a response that asked for more clarification on the statement above, he continued by saying, "I can’t speak to broader strategy, but my role and team are fully focused on VR. I genuinely love VR and wouldn’t be doing this work if I didn’t believe in its future."

(Image credit: Oculus)

It's hard to read past the winking emojis used in these brief exchanges. Is this a Meta employee in the know, hinting at something we don't know, or is this someone talking about a very small part of the wider Reality Labs workforce that doesn't apply to the VR gaming landscape? By his own admission, Valecillos can't actually speak to the broader strategy at the company.

When another reply asked if the ongoing development his team is doing involves games, Dilmer responded "Games and apps" with another winking face emoji.

It's worth noting that the "education" projects he's referring to could come under the umbrella of "gamified" experiences. This is becoming a more common use of VR headset tech, particularly by brands like HTC, which specialize more in enterprise headset uses for experiential events and training rather than consumer markets and gaming.

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(Image credit: Valve)

Personally, I'd take these Twitter responses with a pinch of salt and not read into them as anything official. With Meta issuing that many layoffs within its VR workforce, and shuttering arguably its biggest and most beneficial game dev studios, I think we can expect less support for us gamers on the official Meta Quest store with exclusive games.

It certainly seems as though Zuckerberg's company will be pivoting toward AI as 2026 continues. By all reports, the social media giant's collaboration with Ray-Ban to make smart glasses has been successful, so this could be the renewed focus of what's left of the Reality Labs workforce.

Meta's recent behaviour towards VR does tee up Valve to score somewhat of an open goal with its imminent Steam Frame though. Meta's standalone Quest 3 and 3S are arguably Valve's biggest mainstream competition at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see how the market plays out this year. Samsung also stands to gain from Meta pulling back from VR, since its Galaxy XR headset has recently hit the shelves and serves a similar purpose to the Apple Vision Pro and Meta's Quest devices.

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Duncan RobertsonSocial Links NavigationHardware Editor

One of my earliest memories is playing SuperMario64 and wondering why the controller I held had three grips, but I only had two hands. Ever since I've been in love with video games and their technology. After graduating from Edinburgh Napier University with a degree in Journalism, I contributed to the Scottish Games Network and completed an Editorial Internship at Expert Reviews. Over the last decade, I’ve been managing my own YouTube channel about my love of games too. These days, I'm one of the resident hardware nerds at GamesRadar+, and I take the lead on our coverage of gaming PCs, VR, controllers, gaming chairs, and content creation gear. Now, I better stop myself here before I get talking about my favourite games like HUNT: Showdown, Dishonored, and Towerfall Ascension.

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