The Information reports: Meta (formerly Facebook) has just disbanded the team of about 300 people responsible for developing the operating system for AR/VR headsets, and some engineers have been transferred to the AR glasses and Oculus headset teams. Earlier, the company also denied the reports.
However, with the exposure of new information, Meta’s plan to create a unified customized operating system for its own VR / AR platform has obviously encountered troubles.
In January, it was reported that Meta had axed the ongoing “XROS” project team. Compared to “virtual” (VR) and “augmented” (AR) reality, “extended” (XR) reality is broader in scope.
Not long after, Reality Labs VP Gabriel Aul revealed on Twitter that the company was still growing the XROS team rather than shrinking it, with a link to a Meta job posting.
He also said the company remains committed to developing a highly specialized operating system for its own devices, just moving from a ‘highly specialized system’ to a ‘highly optimized solution for each product line’.
In an emailed statement to The Verge on Friday, spokeswoman Sheeva Slovan said that Meta will have more OS engineers embedded in its AR and VR teams to accelerate the development of hyper-tuned solutions for each product line.
In other words, Meta’s adjusted strategy will focus on letting each project team get the custom OS they need, rather than forming a centralized team to develop a brand new software platform.
For reference, the company’s Oculus Quest 2 headset is still using custom software based on the underlying Android.
As for which OS future products (like the upcoming Project Cmbria) will switch to, it doesn’t look like such a big change will happen anytime soon.
The Information adds that some engineers on the XROS team have been transferred to teams working on AR glasses, Quest VR headsets and other XR technologies.
The teams are involved in projects that use computer vision to track hand and eye-tracking, respectively, but it’s unclear where each member of the XROS team ends up going.
Obviously, this strategic adjustment also coincides with Meta’s efforts to change the overall image of the company – changing its name from Facebook to Meta to fully enter the metaverse, and planning to build a virtual world involving a large number of AR/VR products.
Finally, the company also recently refreshed its corporate values, telling employees that they should commit to “moving fast together” and “focusing on long-term impact.”