It has not even been an entire since Facebook rebranded as Meta and launched its Metaverse efforts. Now, its head is leaving the company for a better opportunity.
Vivek Sharma, who was working at Meta’s Horizon VR platform as a vice president, has confirmed to Reuters that he’s leaving the company to go after outside opportunities.
“Thanks to [Sharma’s] leadership,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement circulated by CNBC, “the Horizon product group has built a strong team with an ambitious vision, and it is just getting started.”
The spokesperson also confirmed to news outlets that those who worked under Sharma, whose teams created the company’s Horizon Worlds world-building VR and its virtual events division Horizon Venues, will now report to Metaverse vice president Vishal Shah.
To date, Meta is yet to find a popular spot for its ideology among the people. It has not been quite successful in convincing the lot to shift to its virtual space. The question now is whether Sharma’s departure will help or obstruct that potential transition.
Since announcing its Metaverse in October 2021 and changing the company name to Meta the following month, the ostensible transition has been rocky.
The graphics of Metaverse have been referred to as “basic” this month by CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself. It hasn’t been an easy road for the nascent Metaverse, even as the company has poured billions into making it work.
Sharma has so far declined further about his exit, so it’s unclear whether he was forced out or jumped ship.
From an optics perspective, though, it certainly doesn’t paint an optimistic picture about the future.
