Meta Platforms’s decision to skip its annual developer conference F8 this year raises a question: given the rising importance of AR/VR, does Meta even need its spring conference at all anymore? Maybe the Connect conference in the fall, which is focused on AR/VR, will take over as Meta’s premier developer event.

Notably, CEO Mark Zuckerberg used last year’s Connect keynote to introduce the company’s new name. And with Meta pledging to spend upwards of $10 billion each year on metaverse-related initiatives and rapidly expanding the headcount within the Reality Labs division, Connect is likely to remain the most important event even if F8 returns next year.