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Microsoft’s investment in ambitious augmented reality headset Hololens does not mean the company won’t make a move into the ‘full’ virtual reality market.
Hololens was debuted in January. Unlike the likes of Facebook’s Oculus Rift and Samsung GearVR, Sony’s Project Morpheus and now Valve’s Vive SteamVR, Microsoft’s effort blends computer graphics with a user’s immediate environment.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer, however, has told Eurogamer that this doesn’t necessarily mean that Mirosoft won’t go on to develop a pure VR device.
"I don’t think we’ve locked ourselves out," he said. "We’ve looked at a mixed reality space that we could do with Hololens and think about it as a unique set of features and technologies to enable, that doesn’t preclude us from doing anything in the VR space either from a first-party or partnership perspective.
"I don’t think – and this isn’t a shot at VR in any way – I don’t think it’s landed yet on what it is and how it’s gong to go to market, but the innovation work is amazing, and it’s something the games industry has always done, whether it’s AI or voice. The games industry is always a place for innovation."
Here’s Microsoft’s Hololens demo video:
