It’s beautiful here: Spring has brought the Sun, higher temperatures, and also the blossoming of flowers. Everything is so alive now… except for the metaverse, which is dead, as you all know…
Top news of the week
(Image by Meta)
Meta is slated to launch two new smartglasses
According to two new FCC filings, spotted by the journalist Janko Roettgers, EssilorLuxottica is going to launch two new devices, most probably the next generation of Ray-Ban smart glasses.
We don’t have much info about these devices, because the FCC documents are, as usually, pretty redacted. But we know that they are currently referred to as Ray-Ban Meta Scriber and Ray-Ban Meta Blazer. This leaves no doubt about what kind of products we are talking about. The model numbers, RW7001 and RW7002, are also new, so we are most probably talking about a new generation of glasses.
An FCC filing is one of the last steps a company takes before launching a new device. So we can expect the announcement of these glasses rather soon. At this point, they may even be launched during this Spring, far before the Meta Connect. Let’s wait and see…
More info (Meta is launching new smartglasses — Lowpass newsletter)
More info (Meta is launching new smartglasses — Road To VR)
Other relevant news
(Image by Mark Zuckerberg)
The metaverse is dead, again
Last week, I reported to you that Meta almost killed the VR version of Horizon Worlds, transforming it into a mobile platform. The news was reported negatively inside our community, but it became a true shitshow in the consumer tech press.
“Meta has spent $80B in the metaverse and now is abandoning it” or “The metaverse nonsense is now completely dead” have been two very common narratives in articles I had to read on social media. No one cared that Meta never spent $80B on Horizon Worlds (most money went to fund AR/MR hardware research or to fund content), or that Horizon Worlds was never intended to be THE metaverse, or that in the end, Horizon Worlds is still alive, just not in VR anymore. Everyone went on just posting shit about VR, and they all seemed mostly happy about it.
To add insult to the injury, Neal Stephenson, considered by many the godfather of the metaverse (for sure, he invented the term), has now said that he thinks that the VR metaverse is dead. He believes in online platforms like Roblox, but he thinks that VR goggles have no true future.
It doesn’t matter what we think about all these statements. The result that all these articles and social posts are having is to kill even more of the trust people had about VR, the metaverse, and related concepts. It will further dry up the interest of investors and also the interest of potential buyers of XR headsets. As I’ve said some time ago in an article of mine, the market is very emotional, and all this negativity is going to hurt us all, with less money being poured into the ecosystem. It’s going to be a very tough year…
More info (Neal Stephenson says the VR metaverse is dead)
More info (The New York Times says the metaverse is dead)
The VR Games Showcase brought a lot of news about VR games
Even if VR is dead and the metaverse is dead, there are still many passionate teams working on interesting VR titles. And the VR Games Showcase was the occasion to see a lot of news about upcoming games. There are too many to list here, and I suggest you read the roundup article by Road To VR about them to discover everything that was announced there.
I still want to mention the main piece of news: Fast Travel Games has announced “Payday: Aces High”, a VR co-op heist game for up to 4 players. Looking at the trailer, it seems like a very cool game…
More info (Everything announced at the VR Games Showcase)
More info (Payday: Aces High)
10 years since the Oculus Rift CV1
The Oculus Rift CV1 was released on March, 28th 2016. Two days ago, we had the 10th anniversary of that moment. Happy birthday, Oculus Rift!
I have a lot of memories about that: I remember at that time I had my first startup in full-body VR and spent a lot of money on the Rift headset and a super-powerful PC, hoping it would help us find some investments. It was a big moment of hope: after the success of the Oculus Rift devkits, we were all convinced that the first consumer devices (the Rift and the Vive) would have disrupted the market and made VR mainstream. Boy, we were so wrong…
More info (SVVR celebrating 10 years of Rift CV1)
News worth a mention
(Image by Apple)
WWDC 2026 is happening on June 8
Apple announced that its annual developer conference, the WWDC, is happening on June 8. There will be an in-person event at Apple Park and a livestream for everyone to follow. Probably this will be the occasion where Apple will announce the upcoming version of the Apple Vision Pro runtime, i.e., visionOS 27.
While we wait for it, Apple has just released the latest version of visionOS, 26.4, which introduces foveated streaming.
More info (WWDC to happen on June 8)
More info (VisionOS 26.4 released)
PS5 is getting more expensive
Bad news for anyone who wants to buy a PS5 with the PSVR 2 headset: the PlayStation 5 console is getting a price hike of £90 in the UK and $100 in the US. The reasons are the ones you can imagine: the shortage of components, the wars crippling the economy, and so on…
Google announces Vibe Coding XR
Google has announced its latest research project mixing VR and AI: Vibe Coding XR. Vibe Coding XR is a rapid prototyping workflow that uses Gemini together with the open-source XR Blocks framework to translate user prompts into fully interactive, physics-aware WebXR applications for Android XR. It basically creates XR prototypes starting from a single prompt from the developer. This can be today a very useful prototyping tool, and maybe tomorrow a tool that can help in democratizing VR experiences.
Monado is the foundation of many XR runtimes
I was aware of Collabora’s Monado open-source runtime for XR, but I wasn’t aware of its importance. According to a post on the company blog, Monado is the foundation of many OpenXR runtimes, like Google’s AndroidXR, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Spaces, and NVIDIA CloudXR. Thanks for your service!
Why are cultural XR applications not successful on XR stores?
Michael Golembewski has written an interesting article that discusses the difficulty for cultural XR experiences in moving from important festivals (e.g. Venice, Tribeca, etc…) to commercial stores (e.g. Quest Store). Titles that have won super-important awards at festivals, then maybe have just a few downloads on the stores: how is it possible?
It seems that the difference is all in the context and in how the experience is framed when you try it. One thing is an event where you try a short experience, and then you discuss it with the creator and the other attendees, and another thing is trying a 20-min experience at home and that’s it.
AuraTap is a new social XR app for the Vision Pro
AuraTap is a new social XR app for the Apple Vision Pro, proposed by Phil Traut and Artur Sychov. It is a sort of chatroulette: through the app, you can speak for 2 minutes with a stranger, with both people represented by their Apple Personas. After two minutes, if both of you enjoyed the conversation, you can become friends. It is a kinda interesting concept.
Enjoy a sale of PSVR 2 games!
The annual PlayStation Spring Sale kicked off, and you can find many of the best PSVR 2 games on sale. Just to name a few: Arken Age, The Midnight Walk, Ghost Town, Gran Turismo 7, Vertigo 2, and many more!
Some news about content
- Chaotic free-to-play multiplayer VR shooter Frenzies will shut down on April 7, following the closure of its game studio
- Darts VR2: Bullseye, a game about darts (you don’t say), will release on April 9 for Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2, and PC VR
- Intergalactic slingshot adventure Oh My Galaxy! is available now on Meta Quest for $10
- TaVRn’s Takedown, a new beat ’em up from VR studio LDLC, is out now on Quest and Steam, priced at $20
More info (Frenzies)
More info (Darts VR2: Bullseye)
More info (Oh My Galaxy!)
More info (TaVRn’s Takedown)
Some reviews about content
- The Boys: Trigger Warning had lukewarm reviews from the major VR magazines. The game can be good for fans of the series, but it features too many flaws (like rough graphics or very stupid enemy AI) to be a good game
- Interlocked: Puzzle Islands is a very relaxing puzzle game, with nice graphics and soft music
- Oh My Galaxy! is a game that manages to stand out notwithstanding its simplicity. This action puzzler is effective both in VR and MR.
More info (The Boys: Trigger Warning — Road To VR)
More info (The Boys: Trigger Warning — Upload VR)
More info (Interlocked: Puzzle Islands)
More info (Oh My Galaxy!)
Other news
Mark Zuckerberg wants to build an AI CEO Assistant. I hope it can take better decisions about Meta’s XR strategy…
ClearXR can stream games from your PC to the Apple Vision Pro using CloudXR and foveated streaming
The CEO of Owlchemy Labs was interviewed about the evolution of VR and how to make a great VR game
Discover the Engo3 smartglasses, that can integrate with smartwatches
News from partners (and friends)
My review of the Reebok smart glasses
I just reviewed on my blog the Reebok by Lucyd Octane smartglasses: I think they are amazing glasses to go outside running or cycling. Check them out!
Sponsored Area
Discover FM DUO camera!
Meet the FM DUO, a VR camera that is capable of filming up to 12K @30fps, and 8K @60fps. With built-in RTMP live streaming and 5G connectivity, the FM·DUO will immerse your viewers in real time! The FM·DUO features 2 full-frame CMOS sensors, with 6000 x 6000 pixels each. This allows for high-resolution zooming capabilities. Not only can you narrow in on one subject, but you can also focus on singular details of the subject’s facial expressions, clothing textures, and a multitude of other small details, enabling a much more immersive experience of VR video.
Some XR fun
My meme about the metaverse being dead. It got like 1,400 likes on Reddit! Am I a meme-star now?
Funny link
How to solve the RAM shortage crisis if you have to buy a PC.
(Thanks Rob for the link)
Funny link
What the…
Funny link
Still one of the best VR games ever
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
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- Jan Schroeder
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- Andrew Sheldon
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- Andrew Deutsch
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- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
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- Sb
- Boule Petanque
- Pieter Siekerman
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- Caroline
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- Alan Smithson
- Steve R
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- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
The post The XR Week Peek (2026.03.30): Meta to launch two new smartglasses, the metaverse dies again and again, and much more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://skarredghost.com/2026/03/30/meta-new-smartglasses-metaverse/