Meta Reportedly Invests $3.5 Billion in EssilorLuxottica, Further Strengthening Smart Glasses Partnership

It was rumored last year that Meta was seeking a minority stake in French-Italian eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica, not only the largest eyewear manufacturer in the world, but also Meta's partner behind its growing line of smart glasses. Now, a...

‘Zoom’ App Comes to Quest, Letting You Join Work Meetings as Your Avatar

Meta announced it's now added an official Zoom app to the Horizon Store, letting you host and join online meetings as your Quest avatar. This isn't the first time Quest users could jump into a Zoom call in VR. In...

Smart Contact Maker Raises $250M Investment at a Whopping $1.35B Valuation

Smart contact lens startup XPANCEO announced it's secured $250 million in Series A funding, putting its valuation at $1.35 billion and minting it as XR's most recent unicorn. The funding round was led by Opportunity Venture (Asia), which led the...

Spatial Design Prototyping Tool ‘ShapesXR’ Adds Powerful Animation Features

ShapesXR (2021), the 3D and XR prototyping platform, just got a new animation feature that allows design teams to make their XR prototypes even more expressive and lifelike. The studio says the new 'Animation' feature introduces an "easy-to-use frame-based animation...

Apple Acquires Digital Avatar Company TrueMeeting to Bolster Vision Pro Personas

Apple quietly acquired 3D avatar company TrueMeeting in January, which could help bolster the company's digital Personas on Vision Pro. French language outlet MacGeneration first spotted the news via a European Commission filing, which includes a non-confidential summary of mergers and...

25 Free Games & Apps Quest 3S Owners Should Download First

Not ready to plonk down your first $100 on Quest games? Thankfully there's an impressive number of free games, experiences, apps, and social VR platforms to keep you playing before you're paying. Looking to make your Quest 3S gaming experience...
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VR Design Unpacked: Why ‘Embodiment’ is More Important Than ‘Immersion’

Our series Inside XR Design examines specific examples of great XR design. Today we're looking at the game Synapse and exploring the concept of embodiment and what makes it important to VR games. Editor’s Note: Synapse was released two years ago this...

Quest’s Leaked Theater Environment Suggests Meta Could Be Gunning for Social VR’s ‘Bigscreen’

Meta announced in January it was working on a home theater environment for Horizon OS, which would let Quest users view content on a massive screen in a proper theater setting. Now, a leaked prototype of the environment shows that...

Meta Acquired 9 Leading VR Studios Starting in 2019: What’s Happened Since

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...

‘Eldramoor: Haven in the Mist’ Kickstarter Hits $100K Milestone with No Signs of Stopping

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...