The XR Week Peek (2023.05.01): Meta still committed to the Metaverse, Jio launches Dive headset, and more!
Happy International Workers’ Day! I hope you are enjoying this day of rest that is recognized in many countries all around the world. Personally, I’m celebrating it by working, so that today you can have your favorite weekly summary of XR news!
The past week has been actually quite positive for me: I have discovered that Oxymore, one of the best XR projects developed by VRROOM in which I’ve been involved, has won a Webby Award! I didn’t even know Webby Awards existed, but I’m happy that I’ve won one…
Top news of the week
Zuckerberg confirms Meta’s commitment to the metaverse
Meta is not in its best moment ever, and it is performing its second huge round of layoffs in this “year of efficiency”. But actually, the situation seems to be slowly improving, and the company has reported a profit of $5.7bn (£4.6bn) for the first quarter of this year, much more than was expected.
But even more interesting for us is the fact that Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed Meta’s commitment to the metaverse. He said this very explicitly:
A narrative has developed that we’re somehow moving away from focusing on the metaverse vision, so I just want to say upfront that’s not accurate. We’ve been focusing on both AI and the metaverse for years now, and we will continue to focus on both. […] Building the metaverse is a long term project, but the rationale for it remains the same and we remain committed to it.
Many journalists have been speculating lately that Meta was abandoning the vision of the metaverse and that the new focus of the company was towards AI, the shiny technology of the moment. But Zuck wanted absolutely to stress that this is not true and that Meta’s interest in AI is not affecting the final vision that gave the new name to the company once known as Facebook. And Meta will keep putting a lot of money towards this vision: in Q1 2023, the losses of Meta Reality Labs have been in the order of magnitude of billions of dollars, again.
I think this is a wonderful piece of news for the ecosystem. If Zuck had declared that Meta’s new vision was artificial intelligence (maybe changing the name to MetAI?), many investors would have run away scared from immersive realities, causing the ruin of many companies in our field. Zuck’s commitment is a signal that if such a big company is making a bet on the metaverse, many other entities should do, too. And this will be beneficial for everyone in the field.
One last thing… I’m just curious if this new “attention” towards XR and the metaverse is only by chance coming at the right moment before the launch of the Apple Reality headset…
More info (Mark Zuckerberg remains committed to the metaverse)
More info (Meta Reality Labs still losing billions)
More info (Meta’s profits higher than expected)
Other relevant news
Jio launches mobile headset Dive
This week on Reddit I found the news that Jio, one of the biggest XR manufacturers in India, has just launched a new headset. Going to the product page, I discovered the headset is dubbed Dive, and it… IS A MOBILE HEADSET.
Yes, you’ve read it well. An important XR manufacturer has just launched a plastic cardboard in 2023. This puzzled me, to say the least. But then I got that most probably Jio knows well its own market, that is the Indian one, and probably felt that a very cheap headset was what could drive more customers to it. It’s interesting because it proves that there are no predefined rules in our market: everyone was celebrating already the death of 3 DOF headsets, and in the last month we had Pico launching a new “Oculus Go” and now Jio launching a new “Cardboard”…
The Jio Dive headset is mainly meant for media consumption or lightweight games, and it is incredibly cheap, being priced at around $16.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been blocked
I called for it, and it happened. UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has blocked Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was considered the biggest acquisition in gaming history. The reason, was unexpectedly, cloud gaming. According to the CMA: “Microsoft already enjoys a powerful position and head start over other competitors in cloud gaming and this deal would strengthen that advantage giving it the ability to undermine new and innovative competitors.”
When Microsoft performed the acquisition, Satya Nadella underlined how the acquisition of Activision could also lead to the acquisition of competencies related to metaverse from the gaming company. So I wonder if this suspension could also change Microsoft’s future plans concerning the M-word.
Both Microsoft and Activision received the news with much anger and threatened to reduce their investments in the UK. And of course, they are going to appeal this decision…
PSVR 2 to be sold in retail stores
Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that “soon”, PSVR 2 will be sold in dedicated retail store locations. According to Upload VR, some online stores have already opened preorders to buy the headset.
PSVR 2 has been launched with a “soft launch”, and in fact, its sales until now haven’t skyrocketed. One of the reasons was that the device was available only via PlayStation Direct and not also on other websites or physical stores. Now this is going to change and it will be interesting to see what impact will have this decision. If the headset will still sell in an underwhelming way after the distribution channels have been increased, it means that Sony should start worrying. Otherwise, it may be the beginning of a wonderful season for this new headset. I hope for this second scenario, of course.
News worth a mention
Apple headset in the final sprint of production
It couldn’t be an XR newsletter without a mention of the Apple headset! The news of the week is that the headset is now in the “final sprint” and “supply chain delivery stage,” according to a report from the Economic Daily News. It seems that also Foxconn is involved in the production of the device.
A new report from Mark Gurman confirms that the headset is connected to an external battery, and the connection of the battery to the headset should be magnetic. The whole battery can so be compared to an iPhone MagSafe battery pack. The headset is meant to be charged via a USB-C port.
More info (Apple Reality in final sprint of production)
More info (Recap on the Apple Reality with mention to the battery connection)
More info (Apple headset to be magnetically connected to the battery)
Vive XR Elite 3.0 to feature room scanning
The upcoming 3.0 firmware update of the Vive XR Elite is finally putting the depth sensor of the device to good use. The device will be able to scan the room it is in and reconstruct its mesh, like a Microsoft HoloLens. This is a very interesting application, something that it’s a pity that the Quest Pro can’t offer. I can’t wait to see what developers will make with it.
Discover interesting resources about accessibility in XR
There is a public repository on GitHub called “XRAccessibility” that provides tons of resources on how to integrate accessibility into your XR application. I’m a big advocate for accessibility in XR, so I invite you all to give it a look.
(Thanks Matias Nassi for the tip!)
Some news about AI
I’ve found two interesting trends in AI this week. Of course this week a million things happened about AI, but let’s say two things attracted my attention:
- Autonomous agents. These are considered a huge revolution in the field and consist in autonomous AI-driven programs that analyze your prompts, create a to-do list for them, and then spawn agents to resolve the various items in the list. Long-story short, they are like minions you can ask everything, and they just do it. In the long run, all of us may have some AI assistants taking care of some of our tasks in an autonomous fashion
- AI-driven filters. Both TikTok and Snap are starting to integrate always more AI in their filters, with impressive results. In the links below, I’m adding the reference to a TikTok filter that uses AI to improve the face of people, and to Snap that has created its first generative AI filter. Augmented Reality together with artificial intelligence is going to get crazy.
I’ve also started watching the very interesting speech by “Mister President” Alvin Grayling about XR, AI, and the future of technology (and humanity). He’s very good at providing speeches, so I suggest you to give it a look!
More info (A guide on autonomous agents)
More info (How to get started with autonomous agents)
More info (AI-powered filter on TikTok)
More info (Generative-AI filter on Snapchat)
More info (Alvin Graylin on XR and AI)
Qualcomm implements SuperResolution on mobile chipsets
Qualcomm, the company behind the chipsets used in all XR headsets, has just announced the release of a solution to implement “SuperResolution” resolution upscaling on mobile chipsets. While we were all wondering if this could have had implications also in our sector, Virtual Desktop announced that it used the technology to improve the resolution of the SteamVR games that are streamed to your headset. Good news!
More info (Snapdragon SuperResolution)
More info (Virtual Desktop implementing SuperResolution)
Enjoy some promotions
This week the Steam Puzzle Fest and the PlayStation Golden Week have brought lots of discounted games to XR players. If you have some savings you want to spend, give a look at the available sales!
More info (Steam Puzzle Fest 2023)
More info (PlayStation Golden Week)
Some news on content
- First-person platformer No More Rainbows is coming to Quest 2 and SteamVR headsets “soon”
- Physics-based co-op game Requisition VR is leaving Steam early access on May 4th. A Quest version is to be expected next year
- Skateboarding game VR Skater has announced a June 21st release date for its launch on PSVR 2
- Upload VR has reviewed Eye Of The Temple on Quest and found it incredibly cool. This was expected… the game was already amazing on Steam.
More info (No More Rainbows)
More info (Requisition VR)
More info (VR Skater)
More info (Eye Of The Temple)
Other news
The Online Safety Bill may lead to stricter age-verification tools in social VR platforms
The developer sessions that Meta provided at GDC are now free to watch on Youtube
Upload VR has interviewed the genius behind the game Vertigo 2
Rogue Ascent’s trick to provide auto-firing to make hand-tracking FPS gaming more comfortable is VR UX at its finest
Researchers have developed a system to provide haptic feedback without putting electrodes on the fingertips of the hand
News from partners (and friends)
Discover Mindway
Mindway is a new app to provide meditation, relaxation, mindfulness, and peer-support in immersive realities. You can find it on the Meta Quest Store.
Learn more
DeoVR starts free post-production service
If you are looking for someone that could do post-production to your 360 videos, DeoVR can be your solution. The company is offering free post-production services to creators in need of them, with in exchange the only request to publish the video on the DeoVR platform. Seems a great deal to me.
(Disclaimer: DeoVR is a Patron of this blog. But I’m not mentioning it for this reason)
Learn more
Discover the great work of Vrisch
Vrisch has just developed 6 interactive installations that use VR, AR, and AI for Europe’s biggest lighting house located in Austria in Pill, Tyrol. Discover this fantastic creative job by following the link here below!
Learn more
Some XR fun
Pico is having troubles registering its brand in Chile, because that word means “the male thing” in spoken Chilean…
Funny link
This is a true “VR Face”
Funny link
VR on Reddit in a nutshell
Funny link
I like my VR home, at least
Funny link
What kind of sorcery is this?
Funny link
The real Zuck, at last
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate for my blog, but to the poor people that are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
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- Francesco Salizzoni
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Pieter Siekerman
- Simplex
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Jio)
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