The XR Week Peek (2026.10.26): RDJ becomes Snap’s Chief Experience Officer, Samsung glasses have been leaked, and more!
Maybe it has not been a memorable week for VR, but it definitely has been for me: for the first time in my life, I’ve been able to see a guest post of mine on Road To VR, one of the best online magazines about XR. I’ve talked about some differences in doing VR business in China vs the West, and you can find it here: https://roadtovr.com/chinas-xr-starter-guide-antony-vitillo/
And now, let’s dig into the best AR/VR news of the week!
Top news of the week
Robert Downey Jr. is the new Chief Customer Experience Officer of Snap
Snap announced this week that the famous actor Robert Downey Jr. is joining the company as honorary Chief Customer Experience Officer (CCEO). According to the press release, he will “guide customers to understand and imagine what’s possible with SPECS, a new kind of computer built into a pair of see-through augmented reality glasses”. He will also “work across different parts of the SPECS organization to explore new capabilities, shape new Lens experiences and develop original content”.
A few months ago, a rumor was circulating that Snap wanted to strike a deal with RDJ to have him as an ambassador in exchange for $100M. Considering what has been announced, it seems the rumor was true, and the company found an agreement with the actor. We don’t know if the $100M amount has been confirmed, but considering how famous RDJ is and how close the partnership is, I’m pretty sure the deal is in the order of magnitude of various dozens of millions. Snap has already started sharing a series of short videos involving Robert Downey Jr. showcasing what is possible to do with the glasses. In one I’ve seen, for instance, RDJ throws all the hardware he has (including Meta glasses) and just keeps SPECS because it is the ultimate computer.
I’ve been quite vocal these days in saying I’m not a big fan of this deal. It’s not that it is inherently bad: having a famous actor promoting AR glasses is surely going to be beneficial for the industry. It will increase the awareness of the general audience towards augmented reality, and also make a few hardcore fans buy the device, maybe. Snap is making everything to look glam, and this partnership totally fits this strategy in making tech glasses look “cool”.
But two things really grind my gears. One is clearly the money: $100M is A LOT of money. An actor is given this money to promote a piece of hardware that has no clear use cases yet, and that costs the incredible amount of $2,200. In my opinion, it is too early to have such a famous ambassador that targets the average consumer, because at this moment the only real target for SPECS is us XR nerds. Almost no one is going to spend $2,200 for these glasses, and the old Iron Man (who can’t even say “Iron Man” during his videos because he doesn’t own the IP… oh the IRONy) is not going to change this. Snap had better give $2M to 50 interesting startups creating real use cases for SPECS. Instead, there are no programs to financially support us developers, but the company finds $100M for an actor. To me, this is a joke.
And to add insult to injury, there is all this narrative about him being an “experience officer” that “works in the organization” and that “has tried every wearable tech in the last 20 years”. Let’s get this straight: he’s not a UX designer, and he has no idea how to deliver an AR experience to users. He is just a dude who interpreted a super hero that knew about technology. He’s not the superhero. And I bet my ass that I know much more about this industry and how to do AR the right way than him. He’s an ambassador, and should be defined that way. Let’s leave the role of experience officer to people who really know the job and who maybe now are struggling with the crisis of XR and the whole gaming sector… and are now seeing an actor getting a ton of money instead of them.
More info (Robert Downey Jr joins SPECS — Press Release)
More info (Robert Downey Jr joins SPECS — Road To VR)
More info (One of the videos of RDJ for Snap)
Sponsors Area
This newsletter has also been possible thanks to our sponsors.
Groovy Labs
Groovy Labs is an open VR/MR rhythm playground with access to 100,000+ songs. Slice, strike, or punch your way through music and discover different ways to move with the beat.
Built as an independent ecosystem, Groovy Labs is not tied to a single mechanic or platform. Customize your experience, explore new gameplay styles, and make every session your own. The project is shaped by experimentation, player feedback, and an active community. It is designed to keep evolving with new ideas, content, and ways to play.
Available on Meta Quest, SteamVR/PCVR, PICO 4, HTC VIVE, and Samsung Galaxy XR. One rhythm ecosystem, built for freedom, creativity, and community.
Other relevant news
A new leak unveils the specs of Samsung Glasses
A new leak by SammyGuru (via 9to5Google) unveils the specifications of the upcoming smartglasses made by Samsung in collaboration with Google:
- Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 chip
- 2GB of RAM
- 64GB of storage
- 9-hour battery (72 hours with case)
- 12MP camera: 3K video, 30fps
- Two speakers, four microphones
Many of the specifications (such as battery life and camera) match those of the third-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses just announced at Connect. And this is what worries me about these glasses: why should people buy them instead of Ray-Ban Meta if they have the same characteristics? Meta isn’t everyone’s favorite company, but it’s the market leader with years of experience in making glasses. So I’m not sure I would buy a first-generation Samsung glasses instead of a third-generation Meta glasses.
Actually, there is one thing that Samsung made better than Meta: these glasses weigh as little as 41g, which is lighter than any Ray-Ban Meta device.
The leak also shows a lot of different styles that Gentle Monster and Warby Parker have worked on for these glasses. The good news is that customers will have a lot of options when buying these products. Gentle Monster should also offer its glasses with prescription lenses.
We still don’t know when these glasses will be launched, but November seems a good candidate.
OpenXR to include spatial containers
The Khronos Group is going to include in the OpenXR standard a set of extensions about “spatial containers”. Let me tell you why I think this is relevant for us.
Spatial Containers are basically AR/MR experiences confined in a limited space (e.g. 1m x 1m). They are not fully immersive apps, but are like floating widgets, like the equivalent in MR of what the windows on your desktop are. The Apple Vision Pro and the upcoming Pico Space Pro have exactly this feature: you can have multiple 3D bounded apps around you. These Spatial Containers have another interesting feature: an app can start as bounded and then can become fully immersive at the will of the user. Let’s make an example: the bounded app is a 3D Map application, and then, by clicking on a landmark (e.g., a famous church), you can enter it in an immersive way.
It’s cool that Khronos is including this in OpenXR because this means that the more we go on, the more headsets will implement these spatial containers. And I’m very bullish on spatial containers because I believe that they will be integral to our mixed reality lives. Immersive applications are cool, but they exclusively get your attention. Instead, the fact that you can work on a headset and have various multitasking widgets around you hides a lot of potential. It is like the PC desktop brought to real life. I’ll explain this concept in detail in an article in the upcoming weeks, but I think you can already get it.
It is also intriguing that it’s a completely new market, a new opportunity for us developers to create something cool and make a living out of it. And if Khronos standardizes it, we will be able to build these “widgets” once and then deploy them to all headsets.
News worth a mention
AltspaceVR has been rebooted
In the end, the team behind Sidequest has officially launched the reboot of AltspaceVR. You can now get the app on the Quest Store and try to find your community there.
I’ve already said that I’m not a big fan of a reboot of a dead platform and that the developers could have worked on creating a new one. I’m also seeing that the community is looking at this reboot with some interest, but not much excitement. After this soft launch, the app has just 10 reviews on the Quest Store. In any case, with important platforms like ENGAGE shutting down, maybe this new AltspaceVR can find its place. I wish it luck.
More info (Launch announcement on Reddit)
More info (Link to the app on the Quest Store)
CD-ROM support is coming to the Steam Frame
I… I don’t even know how to comment on this news. As reported by Bradley, someone complained on the Steam forums that he couldn’t connect his external CD-ROM drive to the Steam Frame via USB. And the f*cking legends at Valve actually fixed the runtime to make it possible. So you can now use your CD-ROMs with the Steam Frame. I can’t wait for the floppy disks, now.
NVIDIA fixed its drivers
The latest NVIDIA Driver 621.01 now solves the infamous bug that haunted all of us Quest Link users. With the new driver, hopefully your Quest runtime shouldn’t freeze anymore. It was about time, this was a very frustrating bug to have: in the last few months I could only use Steam Link. Thanks, Meta, thanks, NVIDIA, for taking care of this.
VRChat introduced native face tracking support
In its latest open beta version, VRChat introduced native support for face tracking in its Avatar SDK. People were already able to use face tracking before via OSC, but now the platform is introducing official support for it. This is great, because all the headsets coming to the market (including the Meta VR Glasses) are adding eye tracking and some sort of face tracking. And thanks to it, people will be able to show more of their real facial expressions also in social VR.
A list of experiences for your Halloween!
Halloween is coming and I bet many of you will want to celebrate it by playing some spooky VR experiences. Upload VR has made a list of the best VR games to play for this Halloween, whether they are horror games or standard games with a Halloween event. Enjoy!
Enjoy the Steam Next Fest
Steam Next Fest always represents a good occasion to play interesting upcoming VR games. The event is coming to an end today, but you’re still in time to play a couple of demos before time is up!
More info (Steam Next Fest in VR — Upload VR)
More info (Steam Next Fest in VR — Road To VR)
Discover the Flat2VR Bundle
On Humble Bundle, you can now buy some cool VR games at a discounted price thanks to the Flat2VR Bundle, which includes cool games like Roboquest VR, VRacer Hoverbike, or Out Of Sight VR.
Supernatural has been officially rebooted
The new Supernatural app, produced by the original owners at Supernatural Health, is now available in Early Access on the Horizon Store. Players can now migrate all their fitness data from the old Supernatural app belonging to Meta into the new one, completing the transition from Meta’s owned app to the new one that belongs to the original founders. The app already has a 4.9 rating with 516 reviews. This is a good story of how a good app has not been shut down by Meta, but given back to the people who care about it.
Zenith shut down
The writing was on the wall, but it is now official: Ramen VR is shutting down Zenith: The Last City, one of the first VR MMO games. The creators were able to raise millions for this game, but creating an MMO is a very complex mission, and the game was not able to meet the expectations of the players. Not to mention the fact that it is probably too early to launch such a game meant for a massive number of players in a niche market like VR. Notwithstanding various attempts to save the platform, now the servers will shut down on December, 18th. What a pity.
More info (Zenith is shutting down — Road To VR)
More info (Zenith is shutting down — Upload VR)
Some news about content
- We now have the release date for one of the most awaited games of the year. PAYDAY: Aces High, the VR game set in the Payday universe, is officially set to launch across Quest, PC VR headsets, and Steam Frame on November 5th
- Good Morning [Employee Name] is an upcoming psychological job sim set in an unsettling office space. It can be wishlisted on Steam
- Loony Laps, an arcade toy car racer developed by the solo dev Paulo Cunha, is coming to Quest on December 15 for $12.99. The game can now be preordered on the Quest Store
- Gears of War: E-Day PC VR mod is coming soon with support for the full campaign
- Zero Caliber 2 is coming to PSVR 2 on November 5
- Owlchemy Labs revealed Hyper Visor, a new arcade blaster arriving as a launch title for XREAL AURA
- Liminal VR, the app known for its short immersive experiences designed to influence its users’ emotional states, is introducing a new series called Fear Arena
- Fading Light, a VR action shooter survival game for one to four players, is coming to Quest on November, 12th
More info (PAYDAY: Aces High)
More info (Good Morning [Employee Name])
More info (Loony Laps)
More info (Gears of War: E-Day)
More info (Zero Caliber 2)
More info (Hyper Visor)
More info (Liminal VR)
More info (Fading Light)
Some reviews about content
- Traffix XR is a game where you have to build roads to connect points of interest in a cute diorama city. It is a mixed reality game that is charming and fun, even if sometimes the solution to the puzzles can be difficult
- Sunstone of Time is a colorful, history-inspired trek through ancient Aztec civilization where you will need to solve puzzles and uncover hidden secrets to return to the present and save the world. It seems promising from the current demo
- Daumier: Lila & Ghost is a co-op puzzle adventure that may be intriguing, but it has too many incoherences, and the puzzles have sometimes nonsensical solutions
- RAID VR is an interesting demo about inspecting cargo ships and going into action if they feel suspect. The combat is a bit underwhelming in the current demo, though
- The Rifted Skies demo shows a great action roguelite game. Let’s see if the full game can actually deliver on these good premises
More info (Traffix XR)
More info (Sunstone Of Time)
More info (Daumier: Lila & Ghost)
More info (RAID VR)
More info (The Rifted Skies)
Other news
Virtuix Omni will also be sold in bundles with Quest 3/3S
New SDKs and features help enhance Spatial Apps on Quest
Ray-Ban Meta glasses are now used to help blind people enjoy art in a museum in Milan
(Thanks Thomas Riedel for the tip)
HTC has announced a product similar to the Muse Charm
An opensource SLAM tracking system for the Bigscreen Beyond
News from partners (and friends)
Biscus VR
A message from the creator of Biscus VR, that introduces you to his game:
Biscus VR is a free multiplayer game for Meta Quest that I make on my own. You move with your arms: push off the ground, climb walls, backflip off ledges, and ride ziplines and swing ropes across the maps. Each lobby holds up to 10 players and votes on the next round, so no two sessions play the same.
There are 10 game modes now:
- Horror: one player becomes a giant Monster that can grab, throw and eat the others, while the survivors find power cells, power the generator and escape the hospital.
- Murder Mystery: a murderer, a sheriff and a dark library full of suspects.
- Infection, Freeze Tag and Bomb Tag.
- Hide & Seek, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill.
- Spleef: shoot the floor out from under everyone above the lava.
- Color Switch: stand on the right color before the floor drops.
Around the modes there are ranked lobbies (Bronze up to Unreal), cosmetics and pets, daily quests, a prize wheel, gifting to friends, and a carnival with a working Ferris wheel. The LIV camera is built in, so players can record in mixed reality or third person.
The Halloween update is live now: every map is decorated, and Horror mode takes place in a hospital. The newest build also adds a Blood & Gore setting. With it on, Horror and Murder Mystery kills are properly gory. With it off, every monkey turns into a stuffed toy that spills fluff instead.
There’s a community Monke Hour every evening this week (7–8 PM ET) and a Halloween Horror Night on Oct 31, 7–9 PM ET
Get it on the Horizon Store
Join the Discord Server
Play MycoSprint!
Bring mushroom farming into your living room with MycoSprint, a mixed-reality agricultural learning game for the Meta Quest 3 by Digi Fuzz Verse. Adjust temperature, humidity, and lighting to cultivate real mushroom species right inside your physical space through intuitive XR interactions. It’s a tactile, hands-on blend of education and playful discovery rooted in the Netherlands’ Food Valley.
Get MycoSprint on the Quest Store
Discover XR Kit
XR Kit is an opensource repository containing facilities to build your WebXR experiences. It offers building blocks to help you build UIs in A-Frame. Pretty interesting stuff.
Find XR Kit on GitHub
Some XR fun
We made full circle in 10 years
(Thanks Ivan Aguilar for the link)
Funny link
I want to be a Chief Experience Officer for Snap, too
Funny link
A thank you and an invite
I want to thank all my donors on Patreon for making this newsletter possible. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to afford to keep my website up and you wouldn’t be reading this roundup! So, a big thank you to:
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Paolo Leoncini
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Chris Koomen
- Cognitive3D
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Fabrizio Carimati
- Field Of Vision
- Jason Moore & The MetaMovie Project
- Steve Biggs
- Kai Curtis
- Francesco Strada
- Sikaar Keita
- Ramin Assadollahi
- Chris Madsen
- Horacio Torrendell
- Andrew Deutsch
- Jeremy Dalton
- Joel Ward — Downward Spiral
- Kaihatsu Jai
- Giuseppe Pippi
- Mark Frederiksen
- Ken Lin
- Sebastien Poivre
- Peter Winston
- TykeAI
- Ready Player One
- Enrico Poli
- Pieter Siekerman
- Boule Petanque
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Steve Rittgers
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Mark Giordano
- Simplex
- Paul Hadley
- Matias Nassi
You are very welcome to support me on Patreon, too. And if you want to make even better use of your money, you can consider donating to the Red Cross to support the humanitarian situation in Ukraine caused by the current conflict. Click the button below and donate your money for a good cause!
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(Header image from 9to5Google)
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