Meta has dissolved its hybrid metaverse OS development team, says report
The reports on metaverse operation cancellations keep on coming.
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Microsoft isn’t the only one facing reports of internal shakeups surrounding metaverse-related development initiatives. Meta, the company responsible for kicking offBig Tech’s metaverse maniain October 2021, is also the subject of stories citing project cancellations.
The Informationhas released a report indicating that Meta’s planned hybrid OS, which would serve as the joint heart of the company’s future AR and VR ambitions, isn’t happening anymore. At least, not for the time being. The operating system (codename: XROS) was set to be at the core of both Meta’s headsets as well as its AR glasses, which are on the way. It’s said that XROS had a team of over 300 people dedicated to it and other OS projects. Some of said employees are being redirected to other projects. The Information’s writeup cites “three people with knowledge of the situation” as its source.
This news comes not long after similar reports arose regardingMicrosoft canceling HoloLens 3, another metaverse-linked project that isn’t currently set to see the light of day if the claims surrounding it are accurate. Also relevant to the discussion at hand is the fact that a substantial number of Microsoft’s augmented reality experts havehopped ship to Metain recent memory.
According to a Meta spokesperson’s statement shared withThe Verge, the company is focused on “embedding more OS engineers directly into [its] AR and VR teams.” While this would tangentially address the XROS report, it does not directly elaborate on the state of the project or its team.
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Robert Carnevale is the News Editor for Windows Central. He’s a big fan of Kinect (it lives on in his heart), Sonic the Hedgehog, and the legendary intersection of those two titans, Sonic Free Riders. He is the author ofCold War 2395. Have a useful tip? Send it to robert.carnevale@futurenet.com.
