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AltspaceVR

AltspaceVR was a social Virtual reality (VR) platform that was founded in 2013 by Eric Romo[1] and launched its initial product in May 2015. In 2017 it was acquired by Microsoft[2] and became part of the Mixed Reality division (alongside notable products like HoloLens and HoloLens 2) within the Cloud and AI group. Some elements of the platform appear in Microsoft Mesh.[3]

The platform largely consisted of user-generated spaces called "worlds", which could be visited by other users. Individuals could gather, talk, collaborate, and be co-present in small to large groups.

The platform was regularly home to a wide variety of live virtual events from VR church[4] and LGBTQI+ meetups[5] to large business conferences and magic shows.[6]

In January 2023 Microsoft announced on the AltspaceVR Homepage that the service would be shutting down on March 10, 2023.[7][8]

Worlds

AltspaceVR was organised in spaces called "worlds", which could be found and accessed via a floating menu or via in-world "teleporters". Some large worlds, such as the "Campfire", were built and maintained by official developers as places for users to meet and interact. As of May 2022, AltVR removed all developer-maintained worlds.

Altspace's internal menus included a list of "featured" user-defined worlds and a real-time list of the most "popular" worlds, arranged by the number of users currently visiting each world. Other menus listed current and planned "events", which took place inside official or user-generated worlds.

In 2020 AltspaceVR hosted BRCvr, a Burning Man event.[9]

Supported hardware

AltspaceVR supported several VR headsets:

The platform was available as a traditional desktop application for Mac and Windows, and had a non-VR Android app until 2019.[12]

  • SteamVR devices (HTC Vive, Valve Index...)
  • Oculus Rift/Rift-S via Oculus Store
  • Oculus Quest/Quest 2 (as a standalone app, or via Oculus Link)
  • Windows Mixed Reality devices
  • Samsung Gear VR (discontinued mid-2020[10])
  • Oculus Go (discontinued 2020[11])
  • Google Daydream (discontinued 2019)

See also

  • Horizon Worlds
  • Resonite - A social VR game with in-game building features.

External links

References

  1. John Gaudioso. This company created the first social platform for virtual reality fortune.com, 20 May 2015^
  2. Lisa Eadicicco. Microsoft Just Bought a Virtual Reality Company to Challenge Facebook Time, 3 October 2017^
  3. Microsoft Mesh feels like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings The Verge, 2 March 2021^
  4. Religion in the Digital Age BBC, April 2020^
  5. AltspaceVR on Oculus Go Oculus, retrieved 2022-01-11^
  6. Baker Harry. 'Magicians In VR' Event In AltspaceVR Will Feature Talks And Live Magic UploadVR, August 25, 2020^
  7. AltspaceVR: Home AltspaceVR, retrieved November 23, 2024^
  8. Team AltspaceVR. AltspaceVR to Sunset the Platform on March 10, 2023 AltspaceVR, 2023-01-20, retrieved November 23, 2024^
  9. Rubin Peter. Covid Snuffed Out Burning Man—but the Festival Goes On in VR WIRED, September 9, 2020^
  10. AltspaceVR. AltspaceVR Plans to Sunset Support for GearVR - AltspaceVR - AltspaceVR Plans to Sunset Support for GearVR AltspaceVR, 2020-06-08, retrieved 2021-10-05^
  11. AltspaceVR. Saying Farewell to the Oculus Go - AltspaceVR - Saying Farewell to the Oculus Go AltspaceVR, 2020-11-02, retrieved 2021-10-05^
  12. r/AltspaceVR - Retiring Daydream and Google Play support reddit, 24 April 2019, retrieved 2021-09-21^