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: The US Air Force is repurposing Microsoft HoloLens headsets to assist with aircraft cargo loading and balancing (more below)
Study: A study in Scientific Reports finds that immersive VR training improves knowledge retention, risk identification, and emergency response for electrical substation workers, reducing accidents compared with traditional training methods.
I’ve been painting watercolours more, but people look… horrific under my brush. So horrific that it should become a Resident Evil note found next to a corpse.
Top Story
The US Air Force is repurposing Microsoft HoloLens headsets to assist with aircraft cargo loading and balancing.
What is it? Think of it as someone remotely going in via a WiFi hotspot and guiding people on how to load up boxes so they are loaded effectively on aeroplanes. It's like assisting people with their Tetris session.
Why? After losing their contract to Anduril, the headsets were repackaged for something else. Personally, I think it's a good use of the headsets without letting them become e-waste.
This week’s stories
The Barbican Centre will host Liam Young’s immersive exhibition In Other Worlds from 21 May to 6 September 2026, featuring cinematic future scenarios, audio stories by prominent creators, original music, and climate-focused documentaries across three transformed venue spaces.
Burnley FC streamed their friendly against Lazio in VR, allowing fans worldwide to experience a panoramic stadium view with live commentary and stadium audio from home
Dead Boss Games and Evolution Publishing will release AFFECTED: The Asylum on Meta Quest and SteamVR in 2026, offering a psychological survival horror experience set in a cult-controlled sanatorium haunted by the transformed Subject 357.
Puzzle Dev and Armor Games Studios will release Interlocked: Puzzle Islands on Meta Quest on 24 March 2026, bringing the mobile and Flash puzzle hit into VR with over 30 burr puzzles and additional new challenges.
Varjo has launched Integrated XR Systems, a turnkey VR training ecosystem including secure XR-4 headsets, high-performance PCs, and pre-installed software, designed for rapid deployment in air-gapped and sensitive environments.
The XR Association honoured Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and August Pfluger (R-TX) with its inaugural XR Visionary Leadership Award, alongside Meta and CareerViewXR, recognising their efforts to advance immersive technologies and workforce development at XRA’s TechSummit in Washington, D.C.
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.
All spelling mistakes are deliberate, actually.
