WIMO Games, which developed titles like Battle Bow and most recently Micro Machines: Mini Challenge Mayhem, has ceased operations, according to UploadVR. Official confirmation is still pending. The Texas studio is said to have employed 35 people.
After First Contact Entertainment and Archiact, WIMO Games is the third VR studio to close or lay off many employees since December 2023.
Magic Leap's new CEO Ross Rosenberg spoke with Venturebeat about the company's recent $590 million investment from Saudi Arabia and how the company's AR headset will differentiate itself from products like the Apple Vision Pro. Speaking about Magic Leap's product roadmap, Rosenberg said:
"We have a road map based on expanding the technology we have. Expanding the field of view, expanding the immersiveness, making the device more mobile in some ways, less tethered. All of those things are on our road map. As you extend beyond that time period, you think about ways to further reduce the size and weight of the device. Eventually you get to something that feels more like glasses. We think about all those things as we design our road map."
CTO Daniel Diez said that Magic Leap currently has more than 1,000 employees and that the company is "definitely growing the team as necessary".
Netflix will not be developing a dedicated app for the Apple Vision Pro, nor will it support the existing iPad app. Users of the headset will have to watch Netflix in the browser instead. This was reported by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg.
Media consumption is one of Apple's biggest selling points for the Vision Pro. Netflix may want to wait and see if Vision Pro is a success before supporting the new platform.
What goes for Apple also goes for its competitor Meta: Although Netflix offers a VR app for Meta Quest, it has not been maintained or updated in years.
The Telegraph reports that Saudi Arabia is investing $590 million in Magic Leap. Saudi Arabia has acquired a majority stake in Magic Leap in 2022.
According to the British news site, the startup has raised a staggering $4.5bn in investment capital to date. Magic Leap itself has not yet confirmed the new round of investment. The news comes two weeks before the launch of the Apple Vision Pro.
The company has been developing AR headsets since 2010. The first headset, Magic Leap One, released in 2018, was a commercial failure. With the second headset called Magic Leap 2, which was launched in 2022, the company completed a strategic pivot towards enterprise customers. In October 2023, CEO Peggy Johnson stepped down and was replaced by Ross Rosenberg.
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