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AltspaceVR has had a few close calls over the years, but the company that built virtual social spaces well before \u201cmetaverse\u201d was a household word is shuttering for good this time.<\/p>\n
After announcing that it would close up shop in 2017<\/a>, Microsoft intervened and the company came under the tech giant\u2019s wing<\/a>. Now, Microsoft is sunsetting AltspaceVR\u2019s virtual reality platform, a web of immersive social spaces that invited people to hang out with friends or colleagues as 3D avatars.<\/p>\n AltspaceVR will be no more as of March 10, and Microsoft says it will direct more resources toward its mixed reality platform Microsoft Mesh<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to what is to come, including our launch of Microsoft Mesh, a new platform for connection and collaboration, starting by enabling workplaces around the world,\u201d the announcement reads.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the near-term, we are focusing our VR efforts on workplace experiences, learning from and alongside our early customers and partners, and ensuring we deliver a foundation that enables security, trust and compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside of gaming, Microsoft has built many of its products with an enterprise-first mindset, and VR and mixed reality is no different. The company notes that it plans to \u201cextend\u201d its VR plans to consumers once they are established for the workplace.<\/p>\n AltspaceVR may have never built a formidable user base \u2014 a difficult task in VR, given the bespoke hardware required \u2014 but the company was very early<\/a> to social applications of virtual reality.<\/p>\n By 2015, AltspaceVR had created a robust social VR platform<\/a> where users could mill around wood-paneled rooms with serene views, watch Taylor Swift music videos together or surf the web via a virtual browser. Spatial audio made the experience more immersive, replicating the way that humans perceive sound in real-life environments and laying the groundwork for virtual events.<\/p>\n At the time, most resources and attention in VR were being directed toward cutting edge gaming applications \u2014 not virtual hangout spaces. Meta launched Horizon Worlds, an AltspaceVR-like experience with its own inoffensive neutral interiors and not-too-lifelike avatars a full six years later.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear if Microsoft plans to roll the product into its other VR efforts or abandon the project outright. Given the timing, AltspaceVR\u2019s fate is likely linked to Microsoft\u2019s dramatic company-wide consolidation<\/a>, detailed this week. TechCrunch has reached out to the company for additional information about what happens to AltspaceVR\u2019s team and tech in light of the news.<\/p>\n Amidst deep tech industry layoffs, Microsoft announced will reduce 5 percent of its workforce, impacting 10,000 employees. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pointed to economic uncertainty and the comedown from the early pandemic\u2019s tech boomtimes as the rationale behind the substantial cuts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will continue to invest in strategic areas for our future, meaning we are allocating both our capital and talent to areas of secular growth and long-term competitiveness for the company, while divesting in other areas,\u201d Nadella said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear if Microsoft is tabling some of its metaverse plans or if AltspaceVR is just a casualty of broad, company-wide cuts. It was only a year and change ago that Facebook boldly rebranded itself as \u201cMeta,\u201d plunging the industry into a buzzy hype cycle around a more immersive, possibly VR-powered vision for social networking.<\/p>\n A year later, the metaverse discourse has already rapid-cycled through the backlash phase, leaving the future of avatar-driven virtual social spaces hazy. It\u2019s possible that the metaverse never needed special hardware at all \u2014 non-VR online worlds continue to thrive in 2023 \u2014 but it\u2019s worth remembering a company that was well into exploring those possibilities years before tech\u2019s lumbering giants showed up.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n