Although 2023 is being called “the year of efficiency” by Meta, it turns out that Meta is attracting VR talents with ridiculously high salaries. According to the “Washington Post” report, in order to attract outstanding VR developers, the company provides annual salaries of up to one million US dollars, far exceeding the market level.
The report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Meta provides programmers who can create VR-related technologies with annual salaries ranging from 600,000 to nearly 1 million US dollars. Patrick McAdams, chief executive of Andiamo, said the company’s compensation levels are “significantly higher” than most other game companies, “it is no exaggeration to say that their total compensation is twice or more than that of large game companies.”
It is reported that Meta spent about US$10 billion on the construction of the metaverse in 2021, and invested another US$15.9 billion in its Reality Labs department last year. This metaverse-focused business has lost about US$19 billion in the past two years.
Meta is willing to pay “exceptionally high salaries,” apparently in order to get the best developers to work for them rather than for their competitors. A former recruiter who worked for Meta told The Washington Post that they usually don’t encounter much competition because they pay “well above market rates” across multiple positions.
The report also said that over the past nine months, the average compensation for all VR developers hired by Meta was nearly $540,000. By comparison, Apple’s top compensation package for VR developers is under $500,000, and Google pays its top developers around $440,000.
Meta is trying to beat the competition by hiring the best talent, but the competition is still heating up. Sony Group released the PlayStation VR2 in February, and Apple dropped a blockbuster on the market with its high-priced Apple Vision Pro.
An executive at a smaller game company said he failed to hire a senior developer last year because Meta offered the developer an annual salary of $800,000, with the possibility of boosting the total compensation to $1 million through performance bonuses. $ or so, and the developer doesn’t have very unique experience and skills.
Data show that Meta shares have risen more than 130% this year.
