Meta to Shift Metaverse Development Plans by Reducing Number of Engineers Hired

The economic downturn has affected companies across various industries, and Meta is bracing itself for the next big wave.

Although the company has been busy focusing on building the metaverse, founder Mark Zuckerberg has warned his staff to prepare themselves, amending goals of hiring 10,000 engineers and reducing the number to between 6,000 and 7,000.

“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” he stated regarding the headcount reduction.

“Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is okay with me.”

Zuckerberg’s statement was obtained by Reuters, suggesting the social media company is preparing for a significant downturn in financial and economic activity – a situation the Meta founder blames on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Despite the bleak outlook, people working in Meta are hoping that meta advertising will contribute by generating a substantial amount of its revenue.

Currently, the company is concentrating on co-creating and hosting branded content experiences, citing the Fender and BMW experiences launched during Cannes as a primary example.

Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to rebrand and focus on Meta is speculated to have come from a series of troubles following the viability of Facebook’s advertising capabilities. Additionally, the focus on user privacy and the social media platform’s contribution to spreading disinformation and misinformation amid the pandemic prompted the rebrand.

Recently, Meta announced it would pull the plug on its cryptocurrency wallet Novi this year.

While the crypto market crashes have been a factor in this decision, the company’s ambitions for the wallet were curtailed before the launch.

Cryptocurrencies have been integral to the Web3 infrastructure and played a role in the overall appeal of the metaverse, thus impacting Meta’s approach to monetization of virtual platforms.

While Meta’s decision may indicate a negative direction in the company, Meta reported positive outcomes in the first quarter of 2022. The recent decisions surrounding metaverse ambitions are seen as an attempt to rightsize in the face of increased headwinds.

Opinions expressed by Coin Week contributors are their own.