Meta’s Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) division has reported a third-quarter loss of more than $3.7 billion, earning just $285 million, according to its earnings report released on Wednesday.

The FRL is responsible for Meta’s virtual and augmented reality research and development, as well as metaverse operations.

Revenue of $285 million for the quarter was down from $558 million last year.

The loss has been a follow-up to other previous losses going back quarter after quarter. So far this year, the FRl has recorded losses of $9.4 billion, compared to $6.9 billion in the same period last year.

“Our community continues to grow and I’m pleased with the strong engagement we’re seeing driven by progress in our discovery engine and products like Reels,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta. “While we face short-term revenue challenges, the fundamentals are there to return to stronger revenue growth. We approach 2023 with a focus on prioritization and efficiency that will help us navigate the current environment and emerge as an even stronger company. “

Shares of Meta fell more than 15% in after-hours trading on Wednesday. Shares have fallen more than 60% this year.

The company’s flagship metaverse platform, Horizon Worlds, is also struggling to gain users and falling short of internal performance expectations, according to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

Meta’s initial goal was to hit 500,000 active monthly Horizon Worlds users by the end of 2022. However, the company has reset that number to 280,000 in recent weeks. According to the WSJ, internal documents show the current count is less than 200,000.

User behavior has shown that Horizon Worlds visitors stop visiting the app after the first month, according to documents seen by the WSJ, and the user base has been gradually declining since March 2022.

Horizon is designed to be an expanding collection of interactive virtual spaces, or worlds, in which users appearing as avatars can shop, party and work.

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