Meta's reputation is negative and I think most people want to see it fail. Zuckerberg (and Thiel) is just too evil. So I think Meta will have an uphill battle.
A lot of the products that Apple puts out were developed by Microsoft research or even Xerox, but they were ahead of their time. Meta is likely experiencing the pain of being the first to devote resources to an unproven market that will likely be popularized by someone who figures out how to do it better, cheaper, or for a particular niche first.
One compounding VR problem is that of peripherals. One can imagine driving a car, walking "in place", or even piloting a jet fighter... the peripherals and peripheral feedback are probably as important as the goggles themselves to those experiences.
If computer history is any indication, then the first VR company to develop a killer app will win the market. I personally expect apple to release VR next year, and they will probably eat Meta's lunch because apple specializes in luxury products and VR is very much a luxury product right now. One important caveat is that I don't think Apple will launch unless they have a killer app.