I’m recovering from the cold I got last week and enjoying the Italian summer a bit. I’m also planning a new trip, but I’ll tell you more about it in the upcoming weeks. For now, enjoy the most interesting XR news of the week!
Top news of the week
A report shows what may be Meta’s next steps
The Information’s Wayne Ma has published a new report about Meta that may highlight what are the next steps in XR for the company.
First of all, Meta is working to cut 20% of the spending of the Reality Labs division between now and 2026. The reason is that Reality Labs is literally bleeding billions every year and a limit should be put to this hemorrhage. You may see this as a signal of Meta disinvesting in XR, but this is absolutely not true: when announcing this decision, Meta’s CFO talked internally about Meta still considering the “metaverse” a trillion-dollar opportunity. It seems more that Meta is going to structure Reality Labs less like a research center and more like a product center: the cuts will be made mostly by laying off middle managers, cutting a few projects, and moving some people to other divisions inside the company.
Another signal that Meta is not abandoning XR at all is that it is already planning for Meta Quest 4 and Meta Quest Pro 2. According to this report, Meta Quest 4 should come in 2026, in two variants, a standard one and a cheaper one (probably named Meta Quest 4 and Meta Quest 4s). Meta Quest Pro 2, which is already in the works, should instead be released in 2027. If you are a fan of codenames, you would love to know that the new models of Quest 4 are codenamed Pismo Low and Pismo High, and the Pro 2 is codenamed La Jolla.
Meta is also working on the next version of the Ray-Ban Meta, which should come with a small display to show visual information to one eye of the user. The surprising news is that this new model of glasses, codenamed Hypernova, may not be built in collaboration with Essilor-Luxottica. According to Ma’s report, the integration of the display required making one of the frames too big and Luxottica balked at the design. IMHO not partnering with Luxottica is a very bad decision by Meta: if Ray-Ban Meta are selling like hotcakes is because they are incredibly cool to wear thanks to the Ray-Ban design. Also, they are sold in every glass shop thanks to Essilor-Luxottica’s distribution network. People go to buy new glasses and find they can have cool sunglasses with also some tech features, and so buy them. Not having all of this means losing a lot in my opinion.
Meta seems to know all of this, and that’s why, according to the Wall Street Journal, it is considering buying a 5% stake in Essilor-Luxottica. This would be a multi-billion operation, that would secure Meta a partnership with the Franco-Italian fashion brand. This would be very important, because the other tech giants are understanding the importance of fashionable glasses, too: it seems that Google would like to partner with Luxottica for its Gemini-powered smartglasses, too…
More info (Wayne Ma’s report on Meta)
More info (Meta cutting 20% of its Reality Labs budget)
More info (Meta Quest 4 and Pro 2 — Road To VR)
More info (Meta Quest 4 and Pro 2 — Upload VR)
More info (Next Meta smartglasses won’t be made with Ray-Ban)
More info (Meta considering to buy stakes in Luxottica — Road To VR)
More info (Meta considering to buy stakes in Luxottica — Reuters)
More info (Google considering partnering with Luxottica)
Other relevant news
Samsung headset may launch in March 2025
According to a report from Business Insider, Samsung may launch the MR headset it is building with Google and Qualcomm in March 2025. That same report claims “a developer version” will be available from October 2024, but it is not clear if it will be distributed only to very few close partners or to many interested developers. It is also not clear when this headset will be announced: Samsung publicly talked about an XR platform coming this year, so probably the device, or at least the Android XR operating system, will be announced this year. If the devkits are to be distributed in October, I would bet the announcement will happen in September-October, which is one of the hottest periods of the year in technology.
It should anyway be clear to everyone that this will be an expensive high-end MR headset and so won’t sell many units, exactly like it’s happening with the Vision Pro. But still, Google and Samsung re-entering XR would be a great endorsement for the industry.
Magic Leap may pivot away from making glasses
This week Magic Leap has announced new layoffs, but it has not unveiled the amount of people affected by this operation. This is very sad news and I’m sad for all the people who lost their jobs.
I thought it was just a “normal” layoff operation in this complicated moment of the tech industry. But then I read that Alex Heath in his latest newsletter made this exact title for this news: “Magic Leap laid off its whole sales team and is pivoting way from making its own headsets” and I got a bit shocked. According to him, the AR startup laid off its entire sales and marketing division this week, or about 75 people. And its new strategy, sources say, is to “become a component vendor for other companies looking to build their own headsets”.
This would mean that Magic Leap is working to sell its manufacturing expertise and its patent portfolio to interested companies, like Google (a partnership was announced a few months ago) or Meta (there have been rumors about a partnership). But at this point, it may not be interested in making a new device anymore. If this rumor were confirmed, that would be a huge pity: Magic Leap 2 is currently the best see-through headset on the market and I would have loved to see a Magic Leap 3 coming to light. I understand the difficulties of selling this type of hardware, and I know that Microsoft itself abandoned what was the best see-through headset before the ML2, that is the HoloLens, but I really hope there is a way for Magic Leap to keep working on its devices.
More info (Magic Leap performs layoffs)
More info (Magic Leap may pivot away from making glasses)
News worth a mention
Google open sources Blocks
Google Blocks, the VR creator software for low-poly 3D objects, is following in the footsteps of Tilt Brush. Google discontinued it some time ago, but now it is releasing it open source as “Open Blocks”, letting the community manage it. This is very good news: Blocks was a very user-friendly 3D editing software and it is nice that Google is gifting it to the VR community instead of just letting it die.
Hands-on Somnium VR1
Somnium VR1 is a new high-end PCVR headset just launched by Somnium Space. According to the first hands-on impressions that happened at Somnium Connect, it has impressive clarity and good FOV, but also some visual artifacts. Its price starts at €2000 for the basic version.
More info (Hands on Somnium VR1 — Road To VR)
More info (Hands on Somnium VR1 — Upload VR)
More info (Hands on Somnium VR1 — Skarredghost)
Quest enables multi-room experiences
Thanks to the recent updates to Quest runtime and SDK, developers can now build Quest 3 mixed reality experiences that span across multiple rooms. Since the boundary limits can be removed for mixed reality apps and spatial anchors now work better than before, it is now possible to build an MR experience where the user moves across his whole house. This can enable new kind of experiences, let’s see what the creators will be able to come out with.
Meta multimodal AI not to launch in EU
Meta is retaliating against the European Union for its regulations on AI so it is not going to release the multimodal LLama 3 AI engine to Europe. This has another consequence: it means that European users won’t be able to use AI inside Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses for an indefinite time.
This is a very questionable situation: on one side we have the European Union, which is trying to regulate AI to protect the rights of users and creators. On the other side, we have the big tech companies that are trying to innovate AI as fast as they can because it’s a potential goldmine, even breaking rules when possible (see all the disputes on IP rights with OpenAI). It’s a pity we have arrived at this clash: it would be good to have both innovation and safety, instead of having to pick one or the other…
More info (Meta not launching Llama 3 in EU)
More info (Ray-Ban Meta not getting AI in EU)
Meta Quest phone app rebrands as Meta Horizon
The Meta Quest phone app has just been rebranded as the Meta Horizon app to reflect the fact that it will be the companion app for all the upcoming Horizon OS headsets and not just Meta Quest. The rebrand comes at the same time as a redesign of the app… which now highlights the social features of the Horizon ecosystem and buries even more useful features like the management of your App library. I have the suspect that Meta UX team is trolling us…
More info (Meta Quest app being rebranded and redesigned)
More info (The e-mail Meta sent to its users about it)
Awesome Mixed Reality
Following the tradition of the “Awesome” GitHub repository, someone created an “Awesome Mixed Reality” GitHub repo that contains a lot of useful resources in case you want to start with mixed reality development. If you are a Mixed Reality dev, you should give it a look.
Vantage Point 2024
FOV Ventures is organizing an event called “Vantage Point Demo Day 2024” which will bridge selected startups that work in Spatial Computing, Generative AI, Gaming & 3D tech with interesting investors and partners. If you are an XR startup based in Europe and you’re looking for funds, you should apply to it.
Some news about content
- Flight simulator Aces of Thunder is set to launch in Q4 on PSVR 2 and the game is also coming to PC VR
- The old Netflix app for Quest has been discontinued
- LOW-FI creator has published an update on Kickstarter to announce he needs much more funds to finish the game
- Escaping Wonderland is the sequel to Down the Rabbit Hole and is coming to Quest 2/3/Pro sometime this fall. Preorders are open for $20
- Hello Cruel World promises a horrifying quest for influencer fame, arriving soon on PC VR and Meta Quest
- Witchblood a mixed reality adventure game that was originally released on Rift, Gear and later Oculus Go, is coming back after many years and it has been released for Quest
- Chess Club is getting a new mixed-reality mode
- Upload has published its usual ICYMI post with many minor XR news.
More info (Aces Of Thunder)
More info (Netflix)
More info (LOW-FI)
More info (Down The Rabbit Hole)
More info (Hello Cruel World)
More info (Witchblood)
More info (Chess Club)
More info (ICYMI)
Other news
The audio strap for Bigscreen Beyond will start shipping in August
According to a new report, not only the sales but also the number of new apps for Vision Pro has plummeted in the last months
Enovix can provide batteries for XR headsets that have a higher energy density than the competitors
Unity has released a template to easily create multiplayer VR applications
Goldman Sachs analysts are wondering if “overhyped” AI processing will ever pay off massive investments
NVIDIA is going to showcase amazing research about AI at Siggraph. And its CEO Jensen Huang will have a fireside chat with Mark Zuckerberg at the same event
Learn more (NVIDIA AI research)
Learn more (NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH)
News from partners (and friends)
Brazen Blaze keys giveaway!
Thanks to MyDearest I have a couple of free keys for Brazen Blaze, one of the most-awaited VR games of 2024! This is the description of the game, in case you forgot it:
Brazen Blaze is an online, 3v3 competitive VR game where players choose among unique characters with rich backstories and commanding skills to engage in close-quarter melee combat, smacking-and-shooting their way to becoming the President of the World. The official launch has added two new characters to “Brazen Blaze’s” diverse cast, three different maps (New York City by Day, New York City by Night, and Paris by Day) and 8 different sub-weapons.
If you have a Quest, you can grab one of these two keys to get the game for free… first come, first served!
XJFWQ-7YK4T-M69QK-TG7H4-KCEHF
R679F-KYR49–4EYJ9–7W4GP-7PCXP
If no one of these keys is working, it means someone else got them before you. In this case, consider buying the game using the link here below to support the developers!
Visit Brazen Blaze store page
Blueplanet Explore lands on Vision Pro
Have you ever heard about Blueplanet Explore? If the answer is no, well, you are in the right place. This is the application description and below you can find the links to learn more about it!
Blueplanet Explore Sampler is a free selection of 5 samples from a curated collection of over 80 spatial experiences of rich scenic and cultural heritage locations worldwide, ranging from sacred temples in Indonesia to stunning natural locations found across the southwestern US. The collection is offered as a series of eight Vision Pro apps grouped under categories such as Mysterious Caves, Sacred Temples, Remarkable Geology, Gliding Flight, Esoteric Sites, Southwest Sites, and Native Rock Art Sites. These experiences offer full spatial presence and exploration within these remarkable dioramas, some even offering hang-gliding flight experiences over spectacular terrains. Interactive features are provided to deepen understanding and insight of these fascinating and unique locations. The app takes full advantage of the Vision Pro’s hands UI, with easy and understandable navigation and flight from simple gesture. Further, the high resolution affords remarkable detail in the spatial scenes.
Blueplanet Explore on VisionOS store
Blueplanet VR official website
Sponsored Area
Advertise your product on The Ghost Howls
If you have an XR product and you want to showcase it in front of the VR community, what’s the best place to do that if not The Ghost Howls? Please reach out to me, and let’s talk about potential collaborations!
Discover collaboration possibilities
Some XR fun
It’s not directly related to XR, but the Crowdstrike crash was so big that I had to pick a couple of memes about it…
Funny link / 1
Funny link / 2
I wonder if she’s playing some games about cats
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who 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
- Ilias Kapouranis
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- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
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- Masterpiece X
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- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
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- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
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- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
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- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
- Stephen Robnett
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- Simplex
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And now here you are the link to donate: