3 - 5 minute read
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp messaging service, has had a rough start in its expansion into the metaverse, with billions in losses. However, a new report from the Wall Street Journal says that Meta’s programmers working on the company’s virtual reality suite can earn total compensation from “$600,000 to packages approaching $1 million.” This news comes as the company is experiencing a significant amount of pushback against the development of its metaverse.
Meta’s Reality Labs, the company’s metaverse-building division, reportedly lost $13.7 billion over the course of 2022 according to reports from the beginning of the year, marking the largest yearly losses recorded for this division. However, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s co-founder and CEO, was on record saying the company didn’t have any plans to change its long-term vision for the metaverse.
The metaverse is a term used to describe a universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like a single massive video game. Meta is one of several companies that are investing heavily in the development of this new technology, which they say could one day replace the internet. The company has also had recent legal challenges to its metaverse development.
Meta was served with a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission against Meta and Zuckerberg as an attempt to block “its ultimate goal of owning the entire ‘metaverse.” Recently, two U.S. Senators released a letter addressed to Zuckerberg urging the Meta CEO not to allow teenagers access to the metaverse platform Horizon Worlds, citing “serious risks” and calling it a “…digital space rife with potential harms.”
Metaverse Developer Salaries at Meta
Despite the legal pushback and financial setbacks, the report from the Wall Street Journal says that Meta’s programmers working on the company’s virtual reality suite can earn total compensation from “$600,000 to packages approaching $1 million.” The report said the information on metaverse developer salaries at Meta came from anonymous “people familiar with the matter.”
As development of the metaverse continues, it is likely that talented developers in the field will be in high demand, and that compensation packages will continue to be lucrative. For traders considering investing in companies working on the development of the metaverse, it is important to keep a close eye on financial and legal developments.
Meta and NFTs
On March 13, the head of commerce and financial technologies at Meta tweeted the company is slowly stopping its support for nonfungible tokens (NFTs) on Facebook and Instagram for the time being. According to the executive, the move was to “focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.”
The move away from NFTs comes at an interesting time, as the technology has been gaining significant attention and usage within the world of art and collectibles. However, it remains to be seen what specific impact this move by Meta will have on the larger NFT ecosystem and the companies and projects working within it.
The development of the metaverse remains a promising area of exploration for tech companies, but it is not without its challenges and risks. Traders looking to invest in this area should proceed with caution and keep a close eye on legal and financial developments. The high salaries being offered to developers at companies like Meta is just one sign of the intense competition and interest in this emerging technology, which has yet to prove itself in the real world.
