Sales of virtual reality headsets in the US this year were down 2% from a year earlier to $1.1 billion as of early December, according to data shared with CNBC by research firm NPD Group. CNBC reports: [D]Data from analyst firm CCS Insight reveals that global shipments of VR headsets, as well as augmented reality headsets, fell more than 12% year-over-year to 9.6 million in 2022. Taken together, sales and shipment estimates for VR headsets create a troublesome image for Meta, whose share price has lost about two-thirds of its value this year. Zuckerberg has said that he is playing the metaverse long term, expecting it to take up to a decade to become widespread and projecting that it will eventually host hundreds of billions of dollars in trade. Meta’s Sales…