Meta’s Q1 results showed us that Mark Zuckerberg’s vision of the metaverse is very expensive. And his losses are widening even as his sales of virtual reality hardware and software grow.

Meta has started breaking down the results of its Reality Labs division (formerly known as Facebook’s Oculus division) to give investors an idea of ​​how much it’s investing in the next version of the internet.

Reality Labs generated $695 million in revenue in the first quarter ended March 31, up from $534 million a year earlier. The loss for the quarter was $2.96 billion in the first quarter, compared with a loss of $1.83 billion a year earlier.

Overall, revenue was higher than expected at $27.91 billion in the first quarter, compared to an expected $28.2 billion. Earnings per share were $2.72 per share, compared to expectations of $2.56 per share.

Meta’s overall headcount was 77,805 as of March 31, an increase of 28% year-over-year. And that tells part of the story, as Meta is investing heavily in the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, as in novels like snow crash Y ready player one.