Location-based VR destination Sandbox VR announced it has surpassed $200 million in lifetime revenue as it continues its rapid global expansion, with 29 new locations planned for this year.
It’s been over a week since Sid Meier’s Civilization VII – VR (2025) launched on Quest 3, and although developer PlaySide Studios has issued a performance update following its April 9th release, players are still struggling with poor performance and crashes of the $60 VR port.
Wide sweeping tariffs levied by US President Donald Trump have led to uncertainty in just how the XR hardware industry will react. Now, Bigscreen says its recently announced Beyond 2 PC VR headset will not see a price increase as a result.
Industry Direct by Kit Navock
Industry Direct is our program for sponsors who want to speak directly to the Road to VR newsletter audience. Industry Direct posts are written by sponsors with no involvement from the Road to VR editorial team. Industry Direct sponsors help make Road to VR possible.
Hey friends, I’m Kit Navock, the new CMO at Immersed. Not long ago, I sold my company. And like a lot of founders post-acquisition, I was taking stock—trying to figure out what kind of work (and what kind of people) I actually want to build with next. Long story short: I joined Immersed as its new CMO because I now see the company’s vision. And now, those who can also see the vision can join our journey by becoming an investor before we continue to accelerate! But first, let me tell you how I ended up here.
Immersed had been on my radar for a while. I was an early investor years ago and got to know the team slowly, the organic way—movie nights, shared meals, and bouncing around ideas at their Austin office. At some point, I even hired someone from their friend group at my acquired company. What started as curiosity turned into deep respect. These weren’t just smart people — they were good people — gritty, ambitious, humble, and mission-driven.
Fast-forward to a couple of months ago, I texted Renji (Immersed’s founder) about some basketball news. His reply?
“You should come work with us.”
It wasn’t an obvious choice. I only took his call to amuse him. Even if I hadn’t known him for years, he’s a pretty compelling guy. The thought stuck with me. I thought about it for days. I called my inner circle—the friends and mentors I trust most. I told them I was living the good life: consulting 20 hours a week, fresh off selling a company, finally slowing down a bit. But this opportunity just felt… different.
And they all said the same thing: You should go for it.
I took a lower salary than I’ve had in years, with equity that might not be liquid for a while. But I wasn’t joining for a quick win—I was joining because I believed in the people and the product for something that might become the next tech giant. And when I finally got hands-on with what they’re building, my mind was blown. It all finally clicked.
I’ll be real—I’m newer to XR.
Not to tech in general, but to this AR/VR world. I wasn’t the guy duct-taping sensors to my face and hacking OpenVR builds back in 2016. I’m a mainstreamer. A noob. I had bought an Apple Vision Pro just to see what spatial computing felt like.
It generally worked. I was more productive, more focused. Then I tried Visor—Immersed’s own headset—and it was everything I didn’t know I wanted.
Visor weighs ~186g (lighter than my phone), looks like thick sunglasses, runs standalone with dual 4K micro-OLED displays and a 3-hour battery. But more importantly, it’s built for real tools: VS Code, Figma, email, Blender, terminal, tabs, Netflix. It didn’t feel like it was made as a posthumous add-on to my computer.
It’s not a devkit.
It’s not a toy.
It’s not heavy.
It’s not $3,499.
It’s just… the one that fits into an actual workday.
I may be new here, but even I can tell: this isn’t some prototype.
It’s the first headset that made me think, “Oh—this is ready for the rest of the world to get onboard.”
If you’ve used Immersed (and you probably have), you already know: it’s the most-used AR/VR productivity app in the world. Multi-monitor AR/VR workspaces. Low-latency streaming. Real-time collaboration across platforms. Tens of millions of sessions. Thousands of power users grinding through real work in XR.
Now, with Visor, we’re going beyond just an app. It’s the front door to a full spatial computing platform—an OS built for focus, deep work, and native 3D tools (not floating 2D windows). In my head, this is sort of how Steve Jobs thought about Apple; he wanted to build an entire ecosystem.
For me, what really sealed this line of thinking was Curator AI—a built-in co-pilot that understands my workflow, reduces context switching, and quietly boosts my productivity. It’s not a bolt-on gimmick—it’s the connective tissue of the platform. I don’t think I am alone in thinking this is also what I wanted Siri to be right now, but it’s not.
Moreover, the Immersed platform combined with the Visor and Curator AI —this moves us beyond just LLMs into the physical space. And because it’s OpenXR-compatible, devs can build right on top—whether it’s tools, agents, or entire apps.
This isn’t about porting your desktop into 3D. It’s about building spatial productivity from the ground up—with AI baked in from day one. It’s built for the builders.
I didn’t join Immersed just to talk about screens floating in space and talking avatars. I joined because I believe spatial computing is going to reshape how we work and live. The combination of immersive environments, native tools, and always-on AI support is a powerful leap—and it’s arriving faster than most people think. I think the people at Immersed have the vision, the tech, and the people to make this happen. That’s why I joined.
This isn’t just for hobbyists. What Immersed is building is for engineers, designers, traders, artists, founders, filmmakers—anyone who works on a screen. And as AI agents and humanoid robotics continue to evolve, the value of an immersive spatial platform that just works is only going to grow.
Visor is more than a headset. The Immersed platform is more than just a virtual reality space where we can work. Curator is more than just an LLM AI agent. Together, they form an entire ecosystem for us to all level up.
We’re super pumped to share this with all of you.
If you’ve been waiting for someone to build the right headset—and the right company behind it—now’s your chance to be part of it. Join Immersed in bringing spatial computing to the masses.
👉 Own Stock in Immersed
Before the rest of the world catches up.
Let’s build the future—together.
— Kit
PresenZ is a professional-grade tool for converting cinema-quality CGI content for 6DOF viewing in VR. With the recently updated Immersix app for PC VR headsets, you can demo the tech with a fresh batch of newly released content. A streaming version made for Quest is also in development. We go to check out both versions first hand. The creators of the tech hope to give world-class CGI studios like Pixar and DreamWorks a streamlined way to make cinema-quality CGI content readily available to a VR audience.
Apple is rumored to be working on two versions of Vision Pro, however a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman alleges the Cupertino tech giant is aiming to beat Meta to the punch with a pair of AR glasses.
Varjo, creator of high-end enterprise MR headsets, dipped its toes into the consumer VR market with the release of the Aero headset back in 2021. But now the company says its focus is narrowing on training sims and deeper integrations focused on enterprise customer needs, making a followup to the Aero headset is unlikely.
China-based PC VR headset creator Pimax has issued a statement addressing the impact of the recent US–China trade war on its operations, particularly concerning its Crystal Super VR headset. It’s going to be slightly more expensive for US-based customers, but Pimax’s recent subscription-based payment structure seems to be offsetting much of the costs.
nDreams, the studio behind free-to-play arena shooter FRENZIES, announced that the game is heading out of early access later this year, although it won’t be coming to PSVR 2 as previously planned.
Valve’s rumored standalone XR headset, codenamed ‘Deckard’, has been the subject of speculation since mention was first discovered back in 2021. Now, information obtained by tech analyst and VR pundit Brad Lynch (aka ‘SadlyItsBradley‘) points to Valve gearing up production for the long-awaited device.
Maestro (2024), the VR rhythm game from indie studio Double Jack, today released a new DLC pack that includes tracks from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and HBO’s Game of Thrones, as well as some classical favorites.
Is Quest’s hand-tracking good enough for a rhythm game, which genuinely needs low latency and precise input? After playing the early access version of BEATABLE, which gets you tapping, clapping and snapping to the beat, XR Game’s latest entry is definitely good enough for casual gameplay, although it left me feeling conflicted whether it was actually precise and sticky enough for now.
