Meta's string of VR acquisitions has hit a snag, as the Federal Trade Commission today announced it wants to block the Facebook parent company and CEO Mark Zuckerberg from acquiring Within, the maker of the VR fitness app Supernatural.
"Instead of competing on the merits, Meta is trying to buy its way to the top," FTC Bureau of Competition deputy director John Newman said. "Meta already owns a best-selling virtual reality fitness app, and it had the capabilities to compete even more closely with Within's popular Supernatural app. But Meta chose to buy market position instead of earning it on the merits. This is an illegal acquisition, and we will pursue all appropriate relief."
The FTC noted that Meta already owns the top-selling VR device in the Meta Quest and a leading storefront for VR apps in Quest Store, and a stable of the most successful VR developers including Beat Games, and "one of the best-selling apps of all time" in Beat Saber. All of those properties can be traced back to acquisitions made by Meta/Facebook, dating back to the 2014 acquisition of Oculus for $2 billion.