Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has announced a new subscription service for its virtual reality (VR) headsets, as it aims to make its VR business profitable and build its vision of a “metaverse”.

The service, called Meta Quest+, will cost $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year and will give users access to two new games a month. It will be compatible with Meta’s Quest 2, Quest Pro and upcoming Quest 3 headsets.

Meta’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said that he wants the company to be seen as a “metaverse company” and that artificial intelligence (AI) is “the key to unlocking the metaverse”.

The metaverse is an online world where people can play games, work and communicate in a virtual environment, often using VR headsets.

Meta reported a net loss of $4bn for its VR unit, Reality Labs, in the first quarter of this year, despite making a profit of $5.7bn overall.

Meta faces competition from other tech giants, such as Apple, which recently launched its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset for $3,499. Apple’s headset will be released early next year in the US and will offer both VR and augmented reality (AR) features.