Mark Zuckerberg stated he saw no justification for departing from the business’ long-term metaverse goal during a Q4 earnings call.

Despite operating losses for its Reality Labs division reaching its height in 2022, Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, claims the firm does not intend to alter its long-term metaverse strategy.

Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022, the highest annual losses ever for its metaverse-building business, according to earnings data disclosed by Meta on February 1.

The division lost around $4.3 billion during the fourth quarter, which was the department’s worst quarterly loss since the company’s financials were first made public.

Zuckerberg was unwavering in the company’s metaverse plan during an earnings conference on February 1. In response to a query on how Reality Labs fits into the company’s efficiency, he replied:

“None of the signals that I’ve seen so far suggest that we should shift the Reality Labs strategy long term.”

He stated that once the Quest Pro Virtual Reality (VR) headset was introduced in October, the business would release another “next generation consumer headset” later in 2023.

Susan Li, the chief financial officer of Meta, reiterated Zuckerberg’s prediction from a Q3 earnings call that losses at the company will rise in 2023 by doubling down on the Reality Labs venture.

“We still expect our full-year Reality Labs losses to increase in 2023, and we’re gonna continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see.”

The fourth quarter’s total sales for Meta was $32.1 billion, above Wall Street forecasts.

According to Yahoo Finance, Meta’s stock price increased after the bell due to the higher-than-anticipated sales statistics, rising by around 19.5% as of this writing in after-hours trading.