Jason Saltzman’s Post

Meta isn't the only AR/VR company facing a new, harsher reality. The AR/VR market is experiencing a notable decline after initial enthusiasm, with recent data showing multiple indicators of market contraction across sales, mentions, innovation attention, investment activity, and workforce reductions. CB Insights' business graph data show that Meta isn't the only major AR/VR player showing signs of strain: 👓 HTC Vive has experienced a 10% employee headcount decrease over the past six months and a 9% reduction over the past year, suggesting market challenges or strategic restructuring. 👓 Magic Leap has undergone significant financial restructuring, with its valuation dropping to $2B in 2021, followed by substantial debt financing ($590M in January 2024) to stay operational. 👓 Niantic, despite its success with Pokemon Go, was forced to sell off major gaming assets to Scopely in March 2025 and restructure into Niantic Spatial Inc., with at least 68 employees losing their jobs. 👓 AR/VR gaming studios are experiencing significant layoffs - Fast Travel Games cut 30 employees, XR Games reduced staff by 40%, and nDreams laid off 17% of its workforce. 👓 The warehousing AR/VR sector saw companies experience an average headcount reduction of 13.3% over the past year. 👓 Product design AR/VR companies showed an average headcount decline of 6.1% over the past year. 👓 Last year, new AR/VR patents fell to their lowest point since 2012. The current AR/VR market appears to be in transition, facing adoption challenges while companies reposition their strategies toward focused enterprise applications and improved form factors. The introduction of AI capabilities and smaller, more consumer-friendly designs may help revitalize the market in coming years.