Between 2019 and 2022, Meta went on a veritable shopping spree of experienced studios to help push its VR game portfolio, culminating in nine VR studios acquired to date. Here we take a look what’s happened over the past six years, including everything from recent successes to outright shutdowns.

Note: This is an updated version of this article from October 2024, as we continue to track ongoing developments of Meta’s studios.

Acquisition by Meta usually means a few […]

Resolute Games launched a crowdfunding campaign late last month to kickstart a VRMMO called Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist. Now the campaign has officially crossed the $100,000 mark, and it’s not showing any signs of stopping.

Launched on June 24th, the Eldramoor campaign is hoping to revive some of the fun of recently shuttered VR MMO Orbus VR.

Founded by ex-Orbus players, Resolute Games celebrated some early success with the Kickstarter. Within just 1.5 hours of going live last month, the project had already crossed its “all or nothing” […]

Meta recently unveiled Oakley Meta HSTN, the company’s latest smart glasses created in collaboration with EssilorLuxottica. Now, data miner and serial leaker ‘Luna’ has obtained images of what appears to be Meta’s next pair of smart glasses, this time including a built-in display and wrist-worn controller.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported in January that Meta was working on two new pairs of smart glasses: a sportier unit styled by Oakley—officially confirmed last month—and a high-end pair, codenamed ‘Hypernova’, which features a built-in […]

Independent tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that Apple’s XR and smart glasses roadmap will feature multiple XR devices, including a spec-bumped Vision Pro slated to release later this year. At the far end of the spectrum, Kuo also says Apple is making AR glasses, reportedly coming in 2028.

Kuo is a long-time tech analyst and respected figure in Apple product leaks. In a new blogpost, Kuo has laid out a timeline for a number of Apple XR releases, ostensibly based on various supply […]

As with any instrument, learning the piano can be intimidating when you first start out. But indie developer Plai Technologies is developing an interesting approach to gamifying piano lessons with its upcoming mixed reality app, PianoCafe.

Coming to Quest 2 and above on July 30th, the MR game isn’t about ‘beat-ifying’ keystrokes like we’ve seen with other games, such as PianoVision (2023) from Zarr Apps, but by turning your keys into actual cooking ingredients.

Here’s the gist: as a short order chef, you […]

Cyan, the indie studio behind VR-supported revivals of classic puzzle adventures MYST (1993) and RIVEN (1997), announced a second tranche of layoffs following a round in March that reduced the company by half.

Cyan announced the news in a Bluesky post, linking an updated Google document with contact details of affected employees.

The updated list includes 14 names, although it’s unclear how many were affected in this second round versus March layoffs. Several of the listed employees were previously confirmed to have departed earlier this […]

It’s been less than a week since Meta launched the Quest 3S Xbox Edition headset, but the “limited edition” device is already out of stock if buying from Meta directly. However, it’s still available at third-party retailers.

Meta said previously that the Quest 3S Xbox Edition is “extremely limited” and will be gone for good once it sells out. So while it’s a bit surprising that it’s already listed as ‘Out of Stock’ when trying to buy directly from Meta (in both available regions; US & UK), […]

Bigscreen announced it’s officially begun shipping the first production units of Beyond 2, the company’s latest slim and light PC VR headset.

Following a recent production delay, the company says in a blogpost that Beyond 2 headsets are now shipping, noting that due to a backlog of pre-orders, fulfillment will continue through August and beyond.

Bigscreen says that new orders placed today are expected to ship between August and September, with the goal of clearing the backlog by late September and […]

HTC launched Vive Pro 2 in 2021, and it’s been the company’s flagship PC VR headset ever since. Now, for a limited time, Vive Pro 2 is cheaper than ever.

HTC’s Summer of Gaming Sale has already kicked off, going from now until June 30th. There are a few choice deals to nab if you’re in the market for an admittedly very capable, albeit last-gen PC VR headset, including both a Vive Pro 2 hardware bundle and the headset alone.

Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell announced he’s joining former CEO Brendan Iribe and hardware architect Ryan Brown at Sesame, the smart glasses startup that exited stealth earlier this year.

Mitchell announced in a LinkedIn post that he’s joining Sesame as Chief Product Officer, noting his mission is to “help bring computers to life.”

“Getting the band back together with Brendan Iribe, Ryan Brown, and many of the original Oculus crew. Building the future together again,” Mitchell says in the post.

Sesame is currently […]

Today at Xiaomi’s ‘Human x Car x Home’ event, the Chinese tech giant revealed its answer to Meta and EssilorLuxottica’s series of smart glasses: Xiaomi AI Glasses.

Reports from late last year alleged Xiaomi was partnering with China-based ODM Goertek to produce a new generation of AI-assisted smart glasses, which was rumored to “fully benchmark” against Ray-Ban Meta—notably not officially available in China.

Now, Xiaomi has unveiled its first Xiaomi AI Glasses, which include onboard Hyper XiaoAi voice assistant, 12MP camera with electronic […]

Rob Yescombe, co-creator of immersive VR mystery game The Invisible Hours (2017), recently regained the rights to the game, which he says could led to a remaster across modern VR headsets, as well as TV and film.

As confirmed by Hollywood Reporter, Yescombe is currently looking for partners for a potential film or TV adaptation of The Invisible Hours—probably one of the most unique takes on the VR mystery genre.

Seemingly inspired by Agatha Christie classics and the board game Clue, The Invisible Hours lets you […]

Better Than Life has released a new paid DLC environment for its multiplayer kayaking game Kayak VR: Mirage (2022), this time taking inspiration from Yucatán, Mexico for some lush cenotes and mysterious caves.

The game’s new Yucatán DLC is now available across PSVR 2 and SteamVR headsets, priced at $8 as an optional paid DLC.

The studio also released a ‘Complete Edition’ version of the game that bundles in all DLC for $33, including the base game and previously released Soča Valley, Slovenia, and Yucatán locations.

Bandai Namco announced that a new entry into the hit puzzle-platformer franchise Little Nightmares is coming to VR.

Called Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes, the game is currently in development by Iconik Studio, known for its work on both Quest title Hunting VR (2024) and King Pong (2021) for PC VR headsets.

Details are still thin, so there’s no word yet on target platforms or potential release window, which leaves more than a few question marks. What is certain though is we’re in for some more of the […]