AltspaceVR was a social

Virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

(VR) platform that was founded in 2013 by Eric Romo and launched its initial product in May 2015. In 2017 it was acquired by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

and became part of the Mixed Reality division (alongside notable products like

HoloLens Microsoft HoloLens is an augmented reality (AR)/ mixed reality (MR) headset developed and manufactured by Microsoft. HoloLens runs the Windows Mixed Reality platform under the Windows 10 operating system. Some of the positional tracking tech ...

and

HoloLens 2 Microsoft HoloLens 2 is a mixed reality head-mounted display developed and manufactured by Microsoft. It is the successor to the original Microsoft HoloLens. The first variant of the device, The HoloLens 2 enterprise edition, debuted its release ...

) within the Cloud and AI group. Some elements of the platform appear in Microsoft Mesh. 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 and LGBTQI+ meetups to large business conferences and magic shows. In January 2023 Microsoft announced on the AltspaceVR Homepage that the service would be shutting down on March 10, 2023.

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 Burning Man is a week-long large-scale desert event focused on "community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance" held annually in the Western United States. The event's name comes from its ceremony on the penultimate night of the event: the ...

event.

Supported hardware

AltspaceVR supported several VR headsets: *

SteamVR Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve Corporation, Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 to provide video game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing thir ...

devices (

HTC Vive HTC Vive is a line of Virtual reality, virtual and mixed reality Virtual reality headset, headsets produced by HTC, HTC Corporation. The brand currently encompasses headsets designed for use with Personal computer, personal computers as well a ...

Valve Index The Valve Index is a virtual reality headset created and manufactured by Valve Corporation, Valve. Announced on April 30, 2019, the headset was released on June 28 of the same year. The Index is a second-generation headset and the first to be f ...

...) * Oculus Rift/Rift-S via Oculus Store * Oculus Quest/Quest 2 (as a standalone app, or via Oculus Link) *

Windows Mixed Reality Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) is a discontinued platform by Microsoft which provides augmented reality and virtual reality experiences with compatible head-mounted displays. WMR supports a number of virtual and augmented reality headsets, includin ...

devices *

Samsung Gear VR The Samsung Gear VR is a virtual reality headset developed by Samsung Electronics, in collaboration with Oculus VR, and manufactured by Samsung. The headset was released on August 21, 2015. When in use, a compatible Samsung Galaxy device acts as ...

(discontinued mid-2020) * Oculus Go (discontinued 2020) * Google Daydream (discontinued 2019) The platform was available as a traditional desktop application for Mac and Windows, and had a non-VR Android app until 2019.

References

External links

* {{Mixed reality Software companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area Microsoft acquisitions Microsoft subsidiaries Software companies established in 2013 Virtual reality communities Software companies disestablished in 2023 American companies established in 2013 American companies disestablished in 2023 2017 mergers and acquisitions 2013 establishments in California 2023 disestablishments in California

Worlds

Supported hardware

See also

References

External links