Microsoft is teasing big things for its work in the social VR and AR space this year.
Last year, as the company launched its new line of Windows ‘Mixed Reality’ VR headsets, Microsoft acquired social VR app, AltspaceVR, which had been facing closure just months beforehand. This seemed to confirm the company’s interest in the social VR space, giving it an answer to Facebook Spaces and more. But Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman says that acquisition was “just the beginning” of its work in the space.
In a blog on LinkedIn, Kipman recently wrote about what to expect from immersive technologies in 2018. The post discusses advances in VR, AR and Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, but Kipman seemed most enthusiastic about what he dubbed ‘Immersive Communication’. He wrote about how current VR can be isolating and that the killer app for these new technologies with “tear down the walls” to open up communication.
“I also think about how mixed reality will change the way I communicate in my personal life,” Kipman said. “Space and cost are limitless in mixed reality. As a father with a 7-year old daughter, with most of my family living in Brazil, I love imagining a reality where she can interact with my entire family on the weekends, to play a board game around the table with all her cousins across the globe in a socially present and immersive way.
“Our work with AltspaceVR is just the beginning,” he added. “You will see us bring this innovation forward in new ways.”
Kipman ended by noting that there would be “a lot more to share” in the coming months, suggesting that Microsoft will have big updates in the social VR and AR space this year.
Exactly what those updates could be remains a mystery. No doubt we’ll see AltspaceVR continue to grow under Microsoft’s wing, but could the company be working on new software and services that take social VR and AR to new places?
