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 new report suggests the deal has gone through. Citing people familiar with the matter, a Bloomberg
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 2021, the company integrated Zoom into Horizon Workrooms , its all-in-one immersive collaboration app. That
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 company’s $40 million Seed round in 2023, bringing its overall funding to $290 million, according
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 system, enabling creators to add transitions and dynamic interactions between scenes—all without writing a single
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 acquisitions. Details of the acquisition are still thin, however it appears Apple acquired the Tel
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 it’s focusing on multiplayer too, making it look a bit like VR’s most popular shared viewing
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
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
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
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