Microsoft exits Mixed Reality just before Apple jumps in

Last week, Microsoft quietly killed its Windows Mixed Reality platform by adding it to its depreciation list alongside Microsoft Defender Application Guard for Edge, Legacy console mode, WordPad, and many others.

For about five hot years, Microsoft couldn’t go a single keynote without mentioning its investments in virtual reality for its flagship operating system. Then came the pandemic, and ironically, the company’s vision for semi-isolated mixed reality experiences took a back seat while Microsoft snuggled up to artificial intelligence.

Unfortunately, this means future versions of Windows will no longer come with support for Windows Mixed Reality environments, hardware, apps stores, or even the next best thing in SteamVR and Steam VR Beta according to its depreciation notes.

Microsoft has hinted at future versions of Windows being powered by AI and have been using the term mixed reality less and less over the past three years, so it should come as no surprise that the company is ending development resources for the platform. The news follows Microsoft cancelling its plans for a third iteration of its Mixed Reality HoloLens headset earlier this year.

While Microsoft may have decided to nix its own hardware designs, there were hopes that last year when the company announced a partnership with Samsung to power the South Korean OEM’s upcoming augmented reality headset projects, that Microsoft would still have a foot in the future of Mixed Reality development.

Additionally, Microsoft and Meta (formerly Facebook) were in a keynote race to see which company could carpet bomb the phrases metaverse, AR, and VR at every possible chance to jump start a Mixed Reality industry that would define the future of computing.

Despite the grandiose name change, Facebook (now Meta) doesn’t appear to be any closer to making the Metaverse a commonplace internet destination while also burning roughly $10B in attempts to ignite its lofty goals. Microsoft, for its part, has parted ways with its HoloLens creator, scaled back the development team for HoloLens and its Mixed Reality platform to a skeleton crew tasked with militarizing its efforts, and will now put the final nail in the coffin by ending its support at Windows 11.

With its eyes set on AI and pre-generative models, Microsoft is closing the book on its Mixed Reality efforts, just months before Apple makes its grand appearance with its own Apple Vision Pro VR headset.

It’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft will pivot if Apple can prove there is a lucrative underserved Mixed Reality audience out that Microsoft failed to engage with properly.