Meta attracts large-scale Microsoft employees with AR ambitions

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Microsoft employees are defecting to Meta by the dozens. Metaverse plans seem to appeal to experts in the field.

That large tech companies are acquiring experienced employees from each other is not unique. However, the scale at which Microsoft employees are defecting to Meta in recent months is striking. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft’s AR team has shrunk by more than 100 employees since last year. More than 40 of them now work for Meta. Apple is also experiencing a similar shift, according to the report.

War for talent

Meta’s big AR and VR plans seem to appeal to employees. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg unpacked a dystopian vision of the future late last year in which people will spend more and more time in a ubiquitous virtual world via VR and AR experiences: the metaversum. Other organizations including Microsoft embrace a more thoughtful version of that metaversum yet it is Meta that attracts experts in the field.

The Wall Street Journal further notes that the war for talent has repercussions for smaller companies. Meta’s ambition to attract more and more staff is driving up the price of AR experts. With that, smaller start-ups can no longer compete.

Added value of the metaversum

While we think the name “metaversum” is a gimmick, and cannot subscribe to Meta’s interpretation, the broader idea does have potential. According to the concept, organizations would have a presence not only physically but also digitally in VR, allowing people to meet remotely in a virtual office, for example. We were already able to try out such a meeting and found the added value compared to a classic video meeting to be immense.