Meta is allegedly in talks with Magic Leap over an AR deal

Executive summary

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

• Headline: Meta is in talks with Magic Leap over an AR deal (analysis below).

• Article: I wrote a major piece arguing why we need a better story for the metaverse, or risk irrelevancy.

• Good vibes: VR professionals and students are working together to create a mermaid experience for a four-year-old with a limited lifespan. 

• Other stories: Campfire announced the availability of its first-of-a-kind holographic collaboration system, VITURE launched the VITURE One XR Glasses, and Cannes Film Festival debuted Ukraine and Banksy VR pieces (more below).

Analysis

Meta is in talks with Magic Leap over an AR deal

• According to the FT, this would be a strategic deal to “provide both intellectual property licensing and contract manufacturing in North America to help it build mainstream AR products.“ Basically, the deal may focus on its strong IP and optics production processes.

• Makes sense! Magic Leap has been working on its mixed-reality capabilities for some time, and licencing its IP is a solid revenue stream for the company. Making these optics is hard too - WaveOptics, who was acquired by Snap, showed me how technical it is to make waveguides.

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Other notable stories

Got any stories? Let me know at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

• Campfire announced the availability of its first-of-a-kind holographic collaboration system.

• Cannes Film Festival debuted Ukraine and Banksy VR pieces. 

• CREAL unveiled the first AR display that combines light field technology with normal-looking lenses

• European Commission delayed its communication on virtual worlds.

• IBC 2023 is now open for registration.

• Meta and Gravity Jack announced the release of a social deduction VR game called Decommissioned.

• Noire is an AR piece that puts the visitor in the skin of a black woman under segregation in the US south, in the 1950s.

• Outlier Ventures published a new iteration of its Open Metaverse Thesis.

• Singapore Tourism Board partnered with Google to launch AR experiences in the Visit Singapore app.

• Virtual World Society announced their sponsorship of an executive breakfast with industry leaders at AWE.

• VITURE launched the VITURE One XR Glasses.

• VR Huddle Room is a store for non-gaming experiences like meditation and learning VR workshops.

Help corner

Need some assistance from other readers? Let me know at tom (at) immersivewire (dot) com.

• For a new project by new media artist Katharina Haverich, the team is looking for VRChat designers, coders and assets. The team is aiming at designing an inclusive theatre stage in VRChat to rehearse and perform excerpts from a play by German playwright Bertolt Brecht. For more information visit the open call on the website.

• Lowpass is a new newsletter run by Janko Roettgers, who wrote a multitude of XR-related exclusives at Protocol. Check it out here.