Big tech companies across the spectrum, including Meta, Microsoft, and Apple, are cutting back on VR research and development. The technological demands of the metaverse are more advanced than CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg have anticipated, and employees are feeling the pinch.

Microsoft recently laid off 10,000 workers, cutting funding for the lab responsible for producing its mixed-reality “HoloLens.” The military was originally working to use Microsoft’s lens as a combat and training aid, but the technology has since been labeled “dangerous and poorly designed.”

Meta laid off 11,000 employees last November and continues to struggle to gain interest and traction for its ambitious metaverse project. a report of Well-informed person note that a…