The XR Week Peek (2026.03.16): Lynx is liquidating, Meta talks about the VR market at GDC, and more!
This has been quite an interesting week to be in XR. There have been no mindblowing pieces of news, but quite a lot of things worth reading about. Probably the fact that GDC took place helped on this side, even if I heard that the event has not been as glorious as in the past. So, without further ado, let me tell you what happened this week in XR!
Top news of the week
Lynx is under judicial liquidation
The top news of the week is one that hurts me to write… but it is my job to inform you all, so I’ll go on. Lynx, the promising French startup producing standalone MR headsets, has entered the liquidation phase. I found the news on Reddit and was able to confirm it on some French websites dedicated to companies and their status.
The news makes me very sad: the team at Lynx was nice and talented (I personally know a few of them, including the CEO), and they were making the only standalone MR headset made in Europe. It’s frustrating that such a company was not supported enough, in this period where Europe is trying to become relevant in the technology field. They also made their share of mistakes with the launch of the first headset, but I was hoping that they could use the lessons learned to have a smoother launch of the second device.
Many people are wondering if the promised Lynx R2, announced just a couple of months ago, will ever see the light of day. Well, having been part of a company that went through a liquidation, too, I can tell you that the only hope we have is that the assets related to the headset get bought by another company interested in launching the device under its umbrella. I sincerely hope this happens, and I also hope this new eventual company re-hires part of the original Lynx team. Let’s see what is going to happen.
Other relevant news
Chris Pruett commented on the current status of the VR gaming market at GDC
Chris Pruett, one of the key figures in the management of the Meta Horizon Store, gave his annual “State of the VR ecosystem” talk at GDC. He reiterated many of the things that all Meta managers are parroting these days, but inside of this corporate word salad, he also provided very interesting tidbits of information. I’ll share a few with you:
- Meta Quest usage hit an all-time high in 2025. So VR is not that dead, after all
- Premium app sales remain the largest revenue driver for the Meta Quest ecosystem. This is a very interesting point: Pruett claims that IAP (In-App Purchases) inside free titles has grown by a 10% factor, but paid apps are still generating more revenue. Meta is continuing to push the free-to-play monetization to increase the use of devices, but it seems that developers still earn more money with paid games. In my opinion, the VR market is still too small for most of the free-to-play games to be profitable enough, so I would be very wary of moving to F2P today
- Over 100 titles generated $1M+ in gross revenue in 2025. This is good
- Adults are one of the two categories of users to target for studios that want to bet on the medium-term future. This is how Mr. Pruett talks about them: “Over the next couple of years, we expect more Mainstream Adults to enter VR through media consumption first, then discover games once they are in-headset. These are folks who don’t move the needle today, but we expect to arrive as a large ecosystem player in the next few years. They purchase VR as a TV replacement first, then discover that it can also play video games. They are mid-core, love Meta Horizon+, and probably play seated without controllers.”. This can be a bet for companies that want to start developing an MR application now, with an expected launch in a couple of years. Remember that in business you should look at where the puck will be, not where it is now
- The second category to bet on are the guys that today are teens, and in 3–4 years will be young adults who attend college: “As teens start to be exposed to more sophisticated media, such as R-rated movies and more challenging books, I think that their taste in games also matures. And when they reach 17 or 18, probably they look back at the games they were playing at 13 or 14 with disdain (“that’s kids stuff”). In three years the kids playing social meme games in VR today will be in college. Some of them will be well on their way to the workforce. They will be adults with tastes that differ from their tastes today, but with a deep comfortableness and familiarity with VR. I suspect that we’ve never seen a customer like them before. So the question I wonder about is, what will they want to play?
My conjecture, and it is only conjecture, is that sophistication, polish, and production quality become more important to young audiences as they age up. Their interest in social, unpredictable, co-op and competitive online multiplayer games with serendipitous physics and lore they can explore outside of the game is likely to remain, but their expectations for polish and quality are, I suspect, going to go up.” - Most games are found through social media: TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and such. Gorilla Tag and Animal Company became such massive hits because they went viral on video platforms. Chris Pruett said that most games are not found via a search on the Meta Store (also because it is impossible, considering that the search function fully sucks), but via social media. This is precious advice for all the studios out there: make your game so that it has viral potential on TikTok, and then invest in social media marketing.
As you can see, he presented no notable announcement, but gave key advice to content creators, so I’ve found his speech very valuable.
We may know the resolution of the upcoming Meta headset
According to the usual Brad Lynch, SeeYa Tech will be the manufacturer of the MicroOLED display for the upcoming Meta “Puffin” headset. The production lines are ready, so production can start soon. The chosen displays should have a resolution of 2560 x 2560 pixels, and of course, every headset would have two displays.
Notice that these are all rumors and have not been officially confirmed. But usually, Brad is pretty reliable with his leaks.
NVIDIA is upgrading XR streaming to headsets
You probably know that NVIDIA is a company with a huge expertise in cloud streaming and cloud rendering. And we had recently some very interesting announcements related to cloud rendering and VR.
The green company has first of all upgraded GeForce Now, its application to play standard games by streaming them from the cloud, so that when executed inside VR headsets, its refresh rate will be 90Hz (upgraded from the previous 60Hz). Notice that we are talking about pancake games and not VR ones, but still, this means that when you play a game on a big virtual screen inside your headset, it will be more fluid.
The second news is that CloudXR, the suite to stream XR content over the cloud, is now compatible with VisionOS. This means that you can stream an XR application from your local workstation or the cloud to the Apple Vision Pro. This is mostly thought for enterprise applications and will allow companies wanting to use complex environments and 3D models to see them in mixed reality inside the Apple device.
News worth a mention
Meta released the first major OS update for the Meta Ray-Ban Display
Meta just released a big update for the runtime of the Meta Ray-Ban Display, adding:
- 2 minigames: GOAT and 2048
- Instagram reels
- Widgets (calendar, etc…) in the main menu
- Calendar App
- Live caption on your phone calls
- Spotify selecting a song that fits the environment around you.
It all seems pretty cool. As for the minigames, as I’ve said last week, it’s very interesting to see how games will be designed for this kind of devices. The ones that Meta added are nice, but they still seem to speak the “mobile language” instead of finding a new one peculiar to smartglasses.
Valve aims to have 90 FPS games on Steam Frame
Valve announced what requirements games should have to exhibit the “Steam Frame Verified” badge on their Steam page. Non-VR games have to go at least at 30 FPS, but VR games should run at a fluid 90 FPS framerate. Considering the low computational power of mobile chipsets, this is not an easy target, especially for games that aim at having good graphics. Luckily, this is not a mandatory feature to be on the store; it is just an optional one to have the cool badge that certifies that the game is ideal for this new platform. Probably, Valve will not stop non-compliant games in a similar way as it is doing for the Steam Deck nowadays.
Meta may lay off 20% of its staff
According to Reuters, Meta is considering laying off 20% of its personnel. We are not talking about Meta Reality Labs, but the whole company, and it is not clear if these cuts may impact the XR parts, too. The reasons for these cuts would be that the company is spending a lot of money on AI and that AI is assisting employees to be more productive, so fewer employees are needed. Long story short, it is AI’s fault.
Meta has been hit by another lawsuit
Last week I told you that Meta has been sued for the fact that it has been found that human reviewers can see the videos of people that make questions to Meta AI. This week, another law firm, Wolf Popper LLP, started a class action lawsuit over the same problem. Hard times are coming for Meta lawyers…
Gracia aims to become the YouTube of Gaussian Splats
Gracia, one of the most interesting startups in the XR Gaussian Splats field, has just made a very cool announcement. It is now possible to stream Gaussian Splats videos from their portal in WebXR, without installing any app and without any downloads. And the quality difference is really minimal. This can be very important for the democratization of Gaussian Splats videos in XR: you just follow a link, and then you enjoy a realistic animated scene.
More info (Announcement of Gaussian Splats streaming)
More info (Quality comparison with offline version)
Will we use the Quest with Macs?
Yannick Conte, a very experienced VR dev, showcased on X that he was able to run a custom OpenXR runtime on MacOS, and then connect the Quest to it to view the VR application running on the Mac inside the Quest. Long story short: this is Quest Link on Mac. He is obtaining some promising results: there is latency and some other problems, but the system works. Maybe we’ll be able to use Quest headsets connected to Mac laptops in the future…
More info (Quest with Mac — Experimentation)
More info (Quest with Mac — Promising Results)
Luke Ross puts its mods for free
Welcome to a new episode of the drama series about Luke Ross. After the mess of the past weeks, Ross has partially reinstated the R.E.A.L VR mod suite on his Patreon, this time for free, with additional features for donors. Not everything has been released, though, and the most important thing missing is the VR mod of Cyberpunk 2077.
You can now get RayNeo glasses with the eyes of Batman
RayNeo announced a collaboration with Warner Bros at Mobile World Congress. It has created Batman and Joker-themed RayNeo Air 4 Pro glasses: these glasses literally look like masks representing the eyes of the comic characters. On one side, they look like a cool collectors’ gadget, and I praise RayNeo for thinking out of the box. On the other side, I would never go out in the streets with a thing resembling the mask of Batman on my face… unless I am a kid, or I want all the people around me to think I’m crazy.
The XR metrics that matter
The magazine UC TODAY has published an interesting piece listing the metrics that really matter for a company to implement XR in its production processes. This is very interesting if you are an XR company and you’re trying to sell your solutions to potential customers: companies don’t value the cool factor, they want to know how XR can make them save money or earn money. The article suggests a few points you can touch on in your pitch to have more chances of succeeding.
A brutal review of the new Virtual Boy
I’ve already read a few reviews of the new Nintendo Virtual Boy for Nintendo Switch. Most of them were from XR enthusiasts and were pretty positive. But what if a non-VR-fanatic has to review that? Well, it has just happened on Tech Radar, and the results are far from enthusiastic…
Some news about content
- Chaotic supermarket simulator Shop & Stuff is scheduled for release on PSVR 2 on March 27
- Schell Games is ending its involvement with Among Us 3D later this month. They say this was already planned since the beginning
- The multiplayer VR motocross racing game MotoX is now free-to-play on Quest
- Bandai Namco announced that its hit puzzle-platformer franchise Little Nightmares is coming to Quest, PC VR headsets, and PSVR 2 on April 24th.
More info (Shop & Stuff)
More info (Among Us 3D)
More info (MotoX)
More info (Little Nightmares)
Some reviews about content
- Tinker Pilot is a great simulator of the realistic controls of a plane, but there is not much beyond it
- Wreckin’ Raccoon is a silly, fun game thought for kids
- Splatsplasm is a rough but enjoyable rhythm game
- “Orcs Must Die! By the Blade” has much improved with its last update: the game is more polished and has better combat. The game in VR is not as strategic as in the flatscreen version, though
- “Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes” in the GDC demo looked very promising: well-crafted and with a creepy atmosphere
- Spacious Places is a meditation app that lets you relax with cozy environments and peaceful music. It kinda works
More info (Tinker Pilot)
More info (Wreckin’ Raccoon)
More info (Splatsplasm)
More info (Orcs Must Die! By the Blade)
More info (Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes)
More info (Spacious Places)
Other news
Gorilla Tag toys are coming to US retail stores next year
Thrill Of The Fight 2 was part of a live physical event, becoming a real esport
An interesting article criticizing immersive art exhibitions because they aim at coolness and not at showing the true beauty of art
(Thanks Lapo for the tip)
XREAL discontinues the Xreal Neo before even launching it
XenevaOS is an OS built from the ground-up for XR
News from partners (and friends)
Watch the video of the latest Awe Nite Florence
The latest episode of Awe Nite Florence, hosted by Cecilia Lascialfari and cohosted by me, was a real blast, with cool speakers like Nicole Nazzaro, Sofia Domeniconi, and Avi Bar-Zeev. The topic was AR, AI, and smartglasses, and the guests talked about different aspects of these technologies: creativity, privacy, and enterprise. If you missed it, don’t worry, you can still watch it on YouTube!
Learn more
Discover XRUIOS
XRUIOS is a cross-platform operating system/development framework that enables devices to share data securely through an abstraction layer. It allows for a “continuous” file system that spans all your devices, so you can, for instance, easily retrieve via AR glasses a file you have on your home PC. It is very interesting, thought for XR, and fully open-source, so check it out!
Learn more (XRUIOS — Hackaday)
Learn more (XRUIOS — GitHub repo)
Sponsored Area
Discover FM DUO camera!
Meet the FM DUO, a VR camera that is capable of filming up to 12K @30fps, and 8K @60fps. With built-in RTMP live streaming and 5G connectivity, the FM·DUO will immerse your viewers in real time! The FM·DUO features 2 full-frame CMOS sensors, with 6000 x 6000 pixels each. This allows for high-resolution zooming capabilities. Not only can you narrow in on one subject, but you can also focus on singular details of the subject’s facial expressions, clothing textures, and a multitude of other small details, enabling a much more immersive experience of VR video.
Visit Product Website
Some XR fun
When the controller slips away from your hand
Funny link
The Luke Ross drama in a nutshell
Funny link
If you like VR news and cats, this website is for you
(Thanks Rob Cole for the tip)
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
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
- Alexis Huille
- Raghu Bathina
- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
- Masterpiece X
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Jennifer Granger
- Jason Moore
- Steve Biggs
- Julio Cesar Bolivar
- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Juan Sotelo
- Andrew Sheldon
- Chris Madsen
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
- Tatiana Kartashova
- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
- Eloi Gerard
- Adam Boyd
- Jeremy Dalton
- Joel Ward
- Alex P
- Lynn Eades
- Donald P
- Casie Lane
- Catherine Henry
- Qcreator
- Ristband (Anne McKinnon & Roman Rappak)
- Stephen Robnett
- KaihatsuJai
- Christopher Boyd
- Don Williams
- Giuseppe Pippi
- Mark Frederiksen
- Ken Lin
- Sebastien Poivre
- Ixn91
- Chris Madsen
- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
- Enrico Poli
- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
- Liam James O’Malley
- Hillary Charnas
- Wil Stevens
- Francesco Salizzoni
- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Lynx)
Disclaimer: this blog contains advertisement and affiliate links to sustain itself. If you click on an affiliate link, I'll be very happy because I'll earn a small commission on your purchase. You can find my boring full disclosure here.
