Mark Zuckerberg Testifies to Meta’s Virtual Reality Ambitions

Jason Rubin, a Meta vice-president, stated that “we believe fitness will become a huge success in VR.”

In July, F.T.C. The F.T.C. sued to stop the deal. It requested the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California stop the deal and filed a lawsuit challenging it at the agency’s internal court.

The District Court Judge Edward J. Davila began hearing arguments on the injunction on Dec. 8. Abby Dennis, a lawyer for the F.T.C., stated that Meta could have created a rival to Within’s virtual reality fitness game, Supernatural on its own.

later testified Hal Singer, an economist, that the F.T.C. had harmed competition. Aaron Koblin, founder of Within, was also present as a witness. Mark Rabkin, a Meta executive, was also present. Mr. Rabkin stated that Meta had thought about adding a fitness component to Beat Saber’s virtual reality game, but it hadn’t decided to pursue the idea.

On Monday, Meta’s chief tech officer, Andrew Bosworth who oversees the company’s virtual reality work, testified that Meta sees itself as a platform. The idea of a platform means that there’s so much software that no single company can create it all.

Meta prefers to buy companies that have created viral games because it’s difficult to duplicate that success, Mr. Bosworth stated. He said that Meta would not prefer programs or games it purchased over those made by other parties.

He published a blog post of 2,000 words defending Meta’s commitment towards artificial and virtual reality hours before his testimony.

He wrote that “As new devices hit market, we believe that our industry will enter an era of growth competition which will bring immense benefits to users as well as the developer community.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Zuckerberg stressed this point in court. He argued that his company’s approach towards the metaverse would benefit developers who have more money and an interest in virtual reality apps. His company will acquire some apps, but others will continue to thrive on their own.

Mr. Zuckerberg stated that if the court granted the injunction, it would be chilling

He suggested that Meta might be banned from all future endeavors. “It would mean investors will be less interested in investing in this space.”

Judge Davila asked Mr. Zuckerberg whether Meta could support and fund developers without buying them. The judge asked Mr. Zuckerberg if he was hinting that he would like to purchase a particular type of fitness app when he speaks at a conference about fitness apps.

Zuckerberg stated that he doesn’t believe he has anything like that in his mind. He stated that his goal is to build on the company’s previous work and control the platform where apps are built. This would be different from Facebook and Instagram which are restricted by the capabilities of mobile phones and computers.

“I spent the majority of my company’s history building mobile apps or software on small screens, where it is difficult to have many social interactions. He said that because those platforms were controlled by other companies, we had limited options for what we could create. “I’m excited about the next generation in computing.”

After Tuesday’s hearing, which was expected to conclude with arguments, there are no further sessions scheduled.