Virtual Reality

The New York Times and Reuters report that a memo was sent to Meta employees on Monday reassigning 7,000 of them, and said that “As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles ⁠into their new org structures.”

Meta says the event will offer “the first glimpse of what’s coming to the next computing platform,” with an “evening keynote” and “developer sessions where we’ll share the latest in VR, wearables, metaverse, and AI.”

It supports foveated streaming, which will show you the sharpest image right in front of your eyes, according to an iRacing blog post.

DirecTV now supports mixed reality with its new app for the Quest 2, 3, 3S, and even Pro headsets. There’s live TV for subscribers, plus on-demand and ad-supported content anyone can watch, available in the app store or through the Horizon TV hub Meta launched last year.

Unity already powers the “majority” of the top-selling VR games on Meta’s platform, according to a statement from Unity’s COO.

“This update improves network performance, allows streaming up to 4K resolutions, and allows you to dynamically adjust the curve of the display in panoramic mode,” Valve says. But the app doesn’t support VR content — it’s intended for streaming 2D games.

This time it’s at Polyarc, creator of PSVR, Meta Quest, and SteamVR darling Moss (and its sequels). Polyarc will “significantly reduce the size of the company.” We called Moss one of “the 14 best games to download for your new VR gaming headset” back in 2019.

Meta announced last month it would be shifting its strategy to go “all-in on mobile” for Horizon Worlds, and today, the company shared exactly when the VR version of the app would be going away.

During GDC on Tuesday, Nvidia announced that visionOS 26.4, expected later this spring, will include support for Nvidia’s XR streaming platform CloudXR 6.0, allowing users to play games like X-Plane 12 and iRacing on the Vision Pro. Developers will soon be able to test their games over the cloud, too, with GeForce NOW Playtest.

If you don’t already own the game, which is still arguably one of the best VR games ever, you’ll be able to play it as part of the $7.99 per month subscription starting this month, Meta says.

I was impressed with foveated streaming on the Steam Frame, which, when you’re interacting with games streamed to the headset, renders what’s right in front of your eyes at the highest fidelity. I hope it’s just as good on the Vision Pro.

Jason Rubin became Oculus’ game studios boss in 2014, shortly after Facebook bought the company, and led VR content ever since, as well as brokering deals that might’ve led to a killer app — like Rock Band, Assassin’s Creed and more. But over a decade later, Meta’s gutting its studios. Rubin is leaving in March because “this seems like a good time.”

Ryan Payton confirmed to The Verge that he was impacted by this week’s job cuts affecting Meta’s Reality Labs division.

The studio, Camouflaj, hasn’t been “completely laid off,” as one Arkham series fan page reported; Camouflaj experienced layoffs but is not shutting down, Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton tells The Verge. The team is now “just a handful of employees” working on “the new user experience for upcoming hardware,” former Meta employees tell Aftermath.

Stratechery’s Ben Thompson says Apple just doesn’t understand Vision Pro after the first live NBA broadcast on the device bounced from camera to camera, rather than offering an immersive, courtside experience:

Apple and Spectrum have released the schedule of the Lakers games you can watch in the Apple Immersive format inside a Vision Pro. The first game takes place this week on January 9th, with the Lakers taking on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Meta had already announced the streaming service was coming to its headsets, but now it’s here.

I brought our Quest 3 to Valve’s offices just in case we’d be seeing the Steam Frame, formerly known as Deckard — and it paid off! I didn’t have time to directly compare optics, but I’d say comfort is superior. It’s noticeably smaller, with controllers that are bigger.

It’s a thing now. The game is available for Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, Quest 3S, and Quest Pro right now. It’s a standalone game, so if you already own the flatscreen version and want to play in VR, you’ll need to buy this special version, according to an FAQ.

In another good tidbit about Valve’s new hardware from Gamers Nexus, the channel says that the controller has LED markers that can be detected by the Frame. Pretty cool!