XR Industry News
The latest news on the XR industry. Covering AR, VR, MR, spatial computing, and the most important companies and platforms in the field.
Meta Reportedly in Talks with Ray-Ban Maker to Deepen XR Ties via Minority Stake in Company
Meta is reportedly in talks with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica to take a minority stake in the company. The move is seen as doubling down on a partnership that created the Meta Ray-Ban smartglasses.
The report, which comes from the Wall...
Google’s Early VR Modeling Tool ‘Blocks’ is Getting Revived as Open Source Software
Google announced that Blocks, the 3D asset creation tool released for VR in 2017, is following in the footsteps of Tilt Brush by going open source.
Google announced the news in a blogpost, noting that development of Open Blocks is following the example put...
Live Webinar: Get Insider Insights on Marketing XR Startups & Content This Wednesday
Join Road to VR's Ben Lang and VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi for a live discussion hosted by Spatial Collective about the challenges and opportunities of marketing XR startups, games, and apps.
Organized by XR veteran Don Stein, Spatial Collective is a network of...
New XR Platform From Samsung and Google Will be Announced, if Not Launched, This Year
This week Samsung and Google confirmed their forthcoming "XR platform" will be announced this year, though it's unclear if it will actually launch before the end of 2024.
It was early 2023 when Samsung, Google, and Qualcomm first announced their...
Lynx Shipping Additional R-1 Mixed Reality Headsets Soon, CEO Details “excruciating” Fundraising Environment
French startup Lynx hasn't had an easy time of getting headsets out the door, much less funding its small hardware startup, which is dedicated to producing its R-1 mixed reality standalone. There seems to be some light at the...
Zuckerberg: Meta “almost ready” to Show Off Prototype AR Glasses
A previous report maintained that Meta is getting ready to show off prototype AR hardware at the company's upcoming Connect developer conference in September, which up until now has been tightly under wraps. Now Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says...
Hands-on: Sony’s New MR Headset Impresses with Clarity & Ergonomics, But Still Needs Tuning
Sony's new headset, officially dubbed the SRH-S1 "content creation system" combines a compact form-factor with novel controllers. I got to check out the headset first-hand at AWE 2024 and came away impressed with the headset itself, even if the input...
Hand-tracking Pioneer Ultraleap Initiates Layoff Amid Major Restructuring
Ultraleap, the company behind the Leap Motion hand-tracking module, informed staff on Wednesday that it was proposing a layoff amid a potential restructuring of the business that could see the company split in two.
The Bristol, UK-based company acquired Leap...
New Evidence Suggests Meta is Still Working on PC VR Cloud Game Streaming for Quest
It was first discovered years ago that Meta has been testing cloud game streaming to bring PC VR games to Quest, but the feature has yet to see the light of day (or even an official announcement). New evidence...
Oculus Founder’s New XR Headset Built Around “military requirements” but Also “used for non-military stuff”
This week at AWE 2024, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey spoke briefly about a new XR headset he's developing. Though the headset would see Luckey returning to the XR space, this one is being built with military, rather than consumer,...
Former Head of Qualcomm’s XR Division Joins Google to Guide XR Strategy
Hugo Swart, previous head of Qualcomm's XR division, announced he's joined Google where he'll lead the company's XR Ecosystem Strategy and Technology efforts.
Swart shared the news in a LinkedIn update, noting the move happened a few months ago:
Happy to share that...
Meta Restructures Reality Labs to Better Focus on Ray-Ban Smartglasses and Other Wearables
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...
‘Gorilla Tag’ Has Topped $100M in Revenue, Making it One of VR’s Most Successful Games
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...
Quest ‘Augments’ Feature for Concurrent AR Apps Needs More Time to Cook, Says Meta CTO
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...
Major ‘ShapesXR’ Update Streamlines Collaborative XR Prototyping, Releases Web Editor for PC Users
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...




















