Meta Platform's latest push into the metaverse got an uneasy reception from investors. Meta stock plunged as much as 3% Wednesday as Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the company's Connect product conference, before gaining back to close the day near even.
From a stage at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Zuckerberg announced the company's newest virtual-reality headset, the $499 Quest 3. The Facebook founder described the Quest 3 as the first mass-market, mixed-reality headset. The device, he added, will "blend the physical and digital world together." It launches Oct. 10.
The social-media company also announced a series of generative artificial intelligence products and a release date for new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Most notably, Zuckerberg made clear that the company is still committed to the metaverse concept of people interacting in a virtual world.
"I find it funny when people say that the digital world, and all the apps and stuff, isn't the real world," Zuckerberg said. "I think increasingly in our modern time, the real world is really this combination of the physical world that we inhabit and this digital world that we're building."
Investors, however, have largely been critical of the billions the company has lost on the metaverse vision to date. Still, Meta stock has gained more than 150% this year as its social media ad business recovered from a rough 2022, taking some of the scrutiny off its metaverse bets.
Meta Stock: Quest 3 Gaming, Business Push
The new Quest 3, which was previewed by Meta in June, will feature a more powerful Qualcomm chip and an ability called "pass-through" that projects virtual images into its user's physical surroundings.
"The Quest 3 is the most powerful headset that we've ever shipped," Zuckerberg said.
Also, Zuckerberg made a series of related updates for gaming and software additions to Quest during his keynote. First, he said Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service will be available on Meta Quest 3 in December. He added Roblox is launching on Meta Quest today
And for businesses, Microsoft 365 will be available on Meta Quest 3 as part of a Meta Quest for Business Platform.
Meta rushed out to an early lead in the VR headset market with its $2 billion purchase of Oculus in 2014. But it soon will face a major competitor. Apple is launching its first VR headset product, the Vision Pro, early next year. Meta's Quest will have the cheaper price tag. The Vision Pro will retail for $3,499.
Meta Stock: New AI Products
On the stock market today, Meta stock fell by as much as 3% during the speech but climbed back. Meta shares closed at 297.74, down less than a half-percent.
Coming into the conference, analysts were more interested to hear about how the company would use AI in its social media products. Meta is seen as a potential winner. The company has developed its own large-language model to power AI applications. Further, the company has used AI to develop new advertising products for businesses.
Indeed, there was news on that front as well. Zuckerberg detailed plans for the company's first consumer-facing generative AI products. That includes AI chatbot with distinctive personalities that can generate text responses and images. Some of the bots were based on the likenesses of celebrities, including hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg.
The chatbots are part of a broader Meta AI conversation assistant that will be available in WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, and is coming to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and Quest 3. Further, the company said its smart-glasses will start sales on Oct. 17.
There was other Meta news as well Wednesday. Reuters reported that the Meta executive overseeing its effort to develop AI chips, Alexis Black Bjorlin, would leave her position at the end of the month.
