Infinite Reality rebrands as Napster Corporation

Executive summary

Welcome to your weekly briefing on the metaverse and spatial computing. Here are your snippets to sound smarter in meetings this week:

• Top Story: Infinite Reality rebrands as Napster Corporation (analysis below).

• Personal: I wrote a short story called Sludge.

• London event: This week! The Immersive Wire and City, University of London is hosting another event on 21 May, this time on education and XR. Come along!

• Design Jam: City, University of London is ALSO hosting a Design Jam on the weekend of 27 June. Come along!

• Awards: XR Awards have opened nominations.

• Other stories: Beem has launched early access to its Spatial Calling platform ahead of upcoming headset releases this summer (more below).

Top story

Infinite Reality rebrands as Napster Corporation.

• Why? Apparently it is to embrace its “legacy of innovation and challenger spirit.” But in my own view, it may be because Napster is more recognisable as a brand than Infinite Reality. It is also part of empowerment; it will “benefit from the consolidation of multiple assets to create a whole significantly greater than the sum of its parts.”

• What else? Napster AI, the company’s new division, also debuted Napster Spaces, a real-time generative AI video chat service.

Other stories

• Beem has launched early access to its Spatial Calling platform ahead of upcoming headset releases this summer.

• Create Worlds has released Wonderland Engine 1.4.0, adding Sparse Global Illumination Probe Volumes and Reverse-Z buffering to enhance lighting and performance in web-based 3D and WebXR experiences.

• Flam has raised $14 million in Series A funding to scale its AI infrastructure for creating interactive mixed reality marketing experiences used by over 100 global brands.

• K.C. Austin is launching Containment Unit, an interactive Vision Pro demo that generates procedural creatures, developed as a personal R&D playground using Houdini, Unity, and Blender.

• The Texas Immersive Institute has partnered with HTC VIVERSE to create seven original WebXR worlds, marking HTC’s first academic collaboration using its VIVERSE Create platform.

• Varjo has released a new documentary, VR is Dead, showcasing how XR is transforming industries through customer stories in aviation, healthcare, design, and research.

Note: The Immersive Wire is run by Tom Ffiske, who also works at Accenture. The contents of the newsletter should not be regarded as Accenture’s views.