Meta reaches out to top Hollywood studios for exclusive content for its upcoming VR device – WSJ

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has held talks with Disney (NYSE:DIS), A24, and other smaller Hollywood production houses to get exclusive content for its new virtual-reality headset, which is expected next year, according to a Wall Street Journal report from Wednesday.

The report said Meta is offering “millions of dollars” for episodic and standalone immersive video content based on well-known intellectual property, which will hopefully pull in more people to its upcoming VR headset and compete with Apple’s (AAPL) Vision Pro.

Meta has spoken with entertainment companies about creating new content and licensing existing shows and films altered to work on its VR device, sources told WSJ. The social media and tech giant has told potential partners that it wants exclusive content for its VR devices, but producers could sell the shows or movies to other platforms after a certain window of time.

The company, in December, launched a partnership with filmmaker James Cameron’s studio, Lightstorm Vision, to scale the creation of 3D entertainment experiences for the Quest headset. Currently, Disney is working on Star Wars-based content for the Quest headset.

Meta’s new device, internally referred to as “Loma,” packs more power than the company’s existing Quest VR headsets. The device is expected to come with higher-fidelity video, and its design would be similar to a large pair of eyeglasses, like its Ray-Ban AI glasses. The company is planning to charge less than $1,000 for the device, sources told WSJ.