Microsoft Lays Off the Entire AltSpaceVR and MRTK Development Team

News on January 22: Microsoft announced on January 19 that it will lay off 10,000 employees in the third quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. The latest development is that Microsoft fired the entire development team of AltSpaceVR and Mixed Reality Tool Kit (MRTK).

Microsoft acquired AltSpaceVR in 2017. AltspaceVR, formerly known as Qualia3D, was established in 2013 to help developers convert common web applications into 3D forms suitable for virtual reality scenes.

In order to find a market entry point, the company has undergone several transformations, even changed its name, and finally took VR social and games as a breakthrough – building a social platform so that users of Oculus Rift, Gear VR, and Google Cardboard can use Chatting, meeting, fitness, playing cards, games, etc. in the virtual reality scene.

AltSpaceVR is Microsoft’s strategic acquisition of Metaverse and its integration into the Microsoft Mesh service. It’s just that, at present, Microsoft is not particularly concerned about the advancement of the Metaverse, so this part has become the focus of this layoff.

In addition to AltSpaceVR, Microsoft also cut off the entire MRTK development team. Built for Unity VR integration, MRTK works with Meta’s headsets, though development has focused on HoloLens.

HoloLens has been scaled down following the departure of its chief architect, Alex Kipman. Microsoft has been pursuing a HoloLens contract with the U.S. military, but the U.S. Congress recently scaled back that contract due to a number of issues.

Recently Google too fired around 12000 employees across its workforce. Microsoft firings are continuing despite them generating good profits over the course of the year. Is the Tech Recession in 2023 just starting? Do let us know your thoughts on this in the comments below!

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Deepanker Verma

Deepanker Verma is a well-known technology blogger and gadget reviewer based in India. He has been writing about Tech for over a decade.