Google is buying “a few of” HTC Vive’s engineering group to “speed up the event of the Android XR platform”.
The 2 corporations aren’t saying what number of engineers the deal includes, nor whether or not it includes software program engineering or {hardware} engineering, however here is what Google is saying in regards to the deal for now:
“They’re an extremely robust technical group with a confirmed monitor report within the VR house, and we’re trying ahead to working with them to speed up the event of the Android XR platform throughout the headsets and glasses ecosystem.”
As an attention-grabbing parallel: in late 2017 Google acquired a few of HTC’s cellular gadgets engineering group, and leveraged these engineers to vastly enhance the {hardware} of its Pixel telephones.
The brand new transfer comes simply over one month after Google introduced Android XR, its standalone XR working system and platform, as Samsung revealed the primary headset to run it.
Whereas Samsung’s headset would be the first machine to run Google’s newest OS, Sony, Lynx, and Xreal are constructing Android XR gadgets too, and different corporations together with Play For Dream say they wish to use it sooner or later.
Sony, Lynx, And Xreal Are Constructing Android XR Gadgets Too
Whereas Samsung’s headset would be the first, Sony, Lynx, and Xreal are constructing Android XR gadgets too.
After all, Android XR will not be alone available in the market. Meta needs {hardware} makers to undertake its Horizon OS platform, which its Quest headsets run, as a substitute. ASUS and Lenovo are the primary corporations confirmed to be constructing Horizon OS headsets, however we have now but to see a reveal from both.
Google’s power is that Android XR headsets will embody “most” of its Play Retailer of flatscreen pill and telephone apps, in addition to its cross-platform providers like Chrome, Google Maps, and Google Photographs, already utilized by an enormous proportion of smartphone and PC house owners on the planet.
With out backed {hardware} although, and seemingly with out tracked controllers within the field, Android XR would possibly battle to draw lots of the builders of the immersive gaming library on Horizon OS. And past Owlchemy Labs, which makes comparatively informal video games, Google hasn’t acquired gaming studios to construct AAA VR exclusives like Meta’s Batman: Arkham Shadow and Asgard’s Wrath 2. Worse, Google’s most up-to-date try at working with sport builders, Stadia, spectacularly failed.
Nonetheless, Android XR may carve out an area available in the market as a comparatively open competitor to Apple’s visionOS, primarily centered on digital screens and integrations with present apps and providers, quite than a direct competitors to the whole lot Meta is doing with its Quest headsets. And HTC’s expertise within the house could assist Google speed up its plans and strengthen its competitors towards Meta.
