XR weekly round-up: "Fateful year" for Reality Labs: Leaked memo puts team under pressure
Meta Quest 3(S) catches up, 2025 will be a fateful year for Reality Labs and Batman cracks the million mark. The XR news of the week.
In our weekly XR Update overview, you will always find the most important XR news from the past week with a brief summary. If you are interested in a particular topic, click on the link to the full article in the relevant paragraph. As usual, we provide you with background information and opinions in addition to the facts.
Have fun browsing!
Content
MIXED Reader Questions
Is virtual reality about to undergo another technological revolution?
This week, MIXED reader Lars wanted to know whether VR will make another big leap in development in the next few years. Our opinion: The next technical revolution is not imminent, evolutionary steps are more likely. At least in the next five years.
MIXED Reviews & Previews
Tried out on Meta Quest: This app mirrors your smartphone into the VR headset
Listen to music, chat and use smartphone apps while you're in VR? Spatial Phone makes it possible. We tried out the Meta Quest app. The idea behind Spatial Phone is clever, but there are still technical difficulties and limitations.
XR hardware: News on VR, AR and mixed reality headsets
Meta Quest 3: Important new MR interface about to be launched
Camera access for Quest developers is still planned for early 2025 and will "unlock a lot of possibilities in mixed reality", says Reality Labs Director Andrew Bosworth.
Meta Quest: Remote Achievements app unlikely to return
Meta's head of technology comments on the removed Achievements app, and it looks like it won't be returning any time soon, at least Bosworth doesn't promise anything of the sort. The low usage of the application was the reason for its removal.
Apple: VR controller still planned, display headset discontinued
Apple and Sony are still working on support for the PSVR 2 controllers for Vision Pro, while work on Mac display headsets has been discontinued. The canceled product would have looked like a normal headset but would have included built-in displays.
DLSS 4 brings crystal-clear graphics to VR games — but installation requires tricks
The new version of Nvidia's AI upscaling technology promises significantly better image quality in virtual reality. According to user reports, DLSS 4 brings massive improvements for VR gaming, but currently still requires several manual steps during installation.
XR market and business news
New SteamVR figures: Meta Quest 3(S) makes massive leap
In Valve's latest SteamVR statistics, Quest 3 and 3S are catching up with Quest 2. Meta Quest 3S moved up to 5th place among the most-used PC VR headsets, up from 9th place in December.
2025 will be a fateful year for Meta Reality Labs
The pressure on Reality Labs is growing: in a leaked memo, Meta's head of technology swears his team in for a decisive year. More could be at stake in 2025 and beyond than in previous years, with potentially drastic measures for the department and the future of the industry.
Meta Quest in transition: crisis or opportunity? Meta takes a stand
Meta confirms that the Quest ecosystem is undergoing profound change. There is not much consolation for struggling VR studios. The audience that uses Meta Quest is changing, and the content that is in demand is changing with it.
VR games and XR apps: all the latest news
Quest 3: A million people threw on Batman's cape
The contender for VR game of the year 2024, Batman: Arkham Shadow, was played by at least one million people.
What do you think of the latest XR developments? Join the conversation on Facebook, Bluesky or X or share your opinion in the comments below.
For feedback, topic suggestions, or other ideas, please email us at hello@mixed-news.com.
Note: Links to online stores in articles can be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED receives a commission from the provider. For you the price does not change.
