According to Reuters, Meta’s Vivek Sharma, the company’s VP of its Horizon social VR platform, is leaving the company. According to The Verge, Meta spokesperson Bryan Pope confirmed Sharma’s departure and stated that Sharma is leaving to pursue an unrelated career opportunity.
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Sharma’s departure comes at an inconvenient time for Horizon. The metaverse is a massive bet for Meta, with Horizon as one of its centerpieces, but the entire endeavor became a meme last week.
To help promote the launch of Horizon Worlds in France and Spain, CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a screenshot in Horizon that prominently featured his dead-eyed avatar, which quickly became a popular internet joke.
A few days later, Zuckerberg shared concept art of a more detailed avatar, but the damage had already been done. There’s even a Snapchat filter that mocks Zuckerberg’s meme-ified appearance.
The meme moment and Sharma’s departure are most likely just blips on the company’s metaverse radar. Meta is pushing forward with new hardware, including a new VR headset that Zuckerberg announced just yesterday would be available in October.
And, just this week, the company unveiled its new Meta accounts, which allow you to use a Quest headset without logging in to Facebook. However, so far, the metaverse has proven to be an expensive venture. The company’s Reality Labs division lost $2.8 billion in the previous quarter.
Sharma’s team will now report to Vishal Shah, Meta’s metaverse VP, Pope said.
“We’re thankful for Vivek’s contributions across our Marketplace, gaming and metaverse teams over the last six years and we wish him well,” Pope said in a statement. “Thanks to his leadership, the Horizon product group has built a strong team with an ambitious vision and it is just getting started.
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“Meta continues to be a source for developing great leaders, and we’re excited to see what Vivek accomplishes in his next chapter.” Sharma didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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