Reality Labs, Meta’s XR division formed in 2020, is now being reorganized into two distinct groups, ‘Wearables’ and ‘Metaverse’, which reportedly comes along a “relatively small” number of layoffs.

As reported by The Verge’s Alex Heath, Meta CTO and head of Reality Labs Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth announced the reorg in an internal memo to employees, stating that all teams in Reality Labs are being merged into either a central ‘Metaverse’ organization, responsible for Quest, and a new ‘Wearables’ organization to dedicated to other hardware, including its Ray-Ban Meta smartglasses.

In the memo, which is available via Heath’s Command […]

VR studio Another Axiom today announced that its breakout title, Gorilla Tag, has surpassed $100 million in revenue. The company shared other key metrics about its player population that shine light on the state of the VR market.

Not long after its launch back in early 2021 it became clear there was something special about Gorilla Tag. It’s minimalistic ‘tag’ gameplay, unique arm-based locomotion, and novel social architecture made for simple social fun. And it turns out, people really like simple social fun.

This week the studio behind the game, Another Axiom, offered up some key metrics for Gorilla Tag that show […]

Last year Meta announced the so-called Augments feature, planned for Quest 3, which would allow persistent mini AR apps to live in the world around you. Now, eight months after the headset hit store shelves, Meta’s CTO explains why the feature has yet to ship.

Augments was announced as a framework for developers to build mini AR apps that could not just live persistently in the space around you, but also run concurrently alongside each other—similar to how most apps work on Vision Pro today.

Image courtesy Meta

And though Meta had shown a glimpse of Augments in action […]

Did you know you can technically play SteamVR games like Half-Life: Alyx (2020) on Vision Pro? Well, now you do, as the leading app dedicated to bringing SteamVR connectivity to a ton of standalone headsets is now available for Vision Pro on the App Store.

Previously offered as an invite-only beta, ALVR is now free on the App Store, allowing Vision Pro users to stream OpenVR games from your PC via Wi-Fi.

This includes support for Vision Pro’s hand gestures, however more than likely you’ll want some sort of controller to really make use of SteamVR content. […]

At $3,500, Vision Pro is undoubtedly expensive, which many are rightfully hoping will be remedied in a prospective follow-up. Now, according to a report from The Information, Apple may be ditching the ‘Pro’ aspect of its next-gen Vision headsets altogether, instead aiming to release a single “more affordable” device in late 2025.

It’s rumored that Apple was slated to release two headsets: an expensive Pro-style device and a cheaper version targeted more squarely at consumers, much like how the company positions iPhone in its lineup today.

Now, citing an employee at a manufacturer that makes key components […]

Pokémon GO developer Niantic announced it’s releasing a new visual editor and “powerful web gaming engine” called Niantic Studio, which aims to let creatives build immersive XR, 3D experiences, and casual web games.

Niantic Studio is essentially the company’s evolution of its subscription-based AR content development platform 8th Wall, which it acquired in 2022. Today, 8th Wall includes a number of tools for making AR content, including location-based experiences and a host of other stuff primarily targeted at mobile users.

Now available for free in public beta for 8th Wall developers, Studio goes one step further […]

Spatial design and prototyping app ShapesXR (2021) just launched its 2.0 update which better streamlines cross-platform support, letting team members more easily edit and collaborate in both mixed or virtual reality, but also now the web.

ShapesXR 2.0 is packing in a number of new features today to enhance the cross-platform app, which not only supports Quest 1/2/3/Pro and Pico 4, but also now standard flatscreen devices with the addition of a web editor for users joining with mouse and keyboard.

Check out all of the things coming to ShapesXR 2.0 below:

Enhanced UI/UX : Shapes has […]

Somnium Space, the Czechia-based company behind the upcoming Somnium VR1 headset, announced that orders for its long-awaited PC VR headset will be opening on June 20th, coming first to reservation holders.

It’s been a long time coming for Somnium VR1, which we last saw at CES 2023 when the company showed off a dev kit version of the headset. If you’re memory is fuzzy, at the time Somnium, which also runs its own social VR platform Somnium Space, was also hoping to release a standalone version of the headset at some point. Due to supply chain […]

Over the last decade I’ve reported on and tested many different VR styluses, but none of them have actually caught on. But the new MX Ink stylus for Quest stands a real chance at legitimizing the VR stylus as a whole, thanks to its thoughtful design, strong lineup of launch apps, and tight integration with Quest’s software.

This week Logitech announced MX Ink, an officially endorsed ‘Made for Meta’ stylus supporting Quest 2 and Quest 3 (see the full announcement details here). It’s the first time Meta has allowed any other company to harness its tracking technology in […]

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is over, and while Vision Pro was a big focus with the announcement of its visionOS 2 update, it’s pretty clear Apple’s first mixed reality headset isn’t in a hurry to feature-match other XR headsets at this point, let alone Meta Quest 3. When Apple eventually does step down to the XR playing field with a more consumer-friendly headset though, there are a number of things would-be owners are probably hoping for that have so far gone missing.

A (much) Lower Price

What: This is a pretty obvious one. It’s only been about […]

Logitech today unveiled an XR stylus that comes as Meta Quest’s first third-party motion peripheral, targeting creatives working in both 2D and 3D media.

Called Logitech MX Ink, the spatially-tracked stylus supports Quest 2 and Quest 3, as well as “future headsets,” Logitech says. The company additionally confirmed it won’t support Quest Pro.

Logitech MX Ink is said to have a “natural pen-like feel and pressure-sensitive tip,” which allows users to create, annotate, and navigate in XR environments. The device allows the user to pair with Quest and use it interchangeably with Quest controllers too, making it effectively the first time […]

ASTO BOT Rescue Mission (2018) is one of most popular PSVR exclusives to date, however Sony-owned developers Team Asobi are releasing its widely hyped PS5 follow-up Astro Bot without the addition of VR support. Don’t hold out hope for a VR port either, as the studio has now confirmed it’s simply not in the cards.

Talking to Digital Trends, Team Asobi studio head Nicolas Doucet confirmed the upcoming Astro Bot can’t (and won’t) ever be a VR game due to its unique development for TVs.

“We’re focusing 100% on PS5,” Doucet told Digital Trends. “Rescue Mission was great fun to make. Every medium […]

VRChat, one of the oldest and most popular social VR platforms, announced it’s laying off “around 30%” of its staff, citing issues with slower than anticipated growth, over-hiring during its boom in 2021, and a slow adoption of a more conventional corporate structure.

The news was announced in an extensive internal email outlining the decisions behind the layoff round, which was also published officially on the company’s website. We’ve also included the full email at the bottom of the article.

In it, VRChat CEO Graham Gaylor says the studio is “reducing the size of our team by […]

We’ve know that Apple planned to support WebXR for quite some time, but with VisionOS 2, the company is enabling the feature for all users. WebXR allows developers to deliver cross-platform XR experiences directly from the web, with no gatekeepers to approve or reject content.

WebXR is the widely supported web standard that allows developers to deliver AR and VR content from the web.

Just like anyone can host a webpage online without any explicit approval from another party, WebXR allows the same for AR and VR content. And because it’s delivered through the browser, accessing and sharing WebXR experiences […]

Korean media last month alleged that the Meta/LG partnership to create a high-end XR headset wasn’t going so well, suggesting either outright cancellation or a delay pushing release of a prospective Apple Vision Pro competitor to 2027. While this hasn’t been substantiated by either company, it’s clear there’s something big going on under the surface, as LG is now shuffling employees from its XR division to other parts of the company.

As confirmed by Korean outlet ETNews (Korean), LG is reassigning employees in charge of the XR division to research and development and other business divisions within […]