Microsoft has discontinued the Industrial Metaverse Core team, a four-month project aimed at promoting the use of metaverse in industrial environments.
The tech giant has also laid off nearly 100 people working on the project, according to a report by The Information on Thursday. Citing a person familiar with the matter, the report said the company wants to prioritize longer-term projects over shorter-term projects to generate meaningful revenue.
Microsoft pulls the plug on Industrial Metaverse team
Internally referred to as “Project Bonsai,” the Industrial Metaverse team focused on how to use artificial intelligence and digital technologies to enable people to interact with and optimize physical goods, assets, places, processes and equipment.
Launched in October, the team worked with customers in healthcare, retail financial services, and energy, among other industries, to create components that industrial customers can use.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft has some major clients in the Industrial Metaverse space, including Mercedes Benz and Coca-Cola. A company spokesperson reportedly said:
“Microsoft remains committed to the industrial metaverse. We are focusing on the areas of the industrial metaverse that are most important to our customers and they will not see any change in the way they are supported. We look forward to sharing additional information in the future.”
The layoffs are part of a plan to lay off 10.00 workers, announced earlier this month by CEO Satya Nadella. The move comes as Microsoft faces macroeconomic uncertainty and slowing growth amid growing fears of a global stock market crash and a hard economic downturn.
Metaverse is a shared, immersive, online 3D space where users can interact with each other and with computer-generated objects and avatars. Major technology companies such as Microsoft and Meta Platforms (META) have already shown interest in developing the metadata warehouse.
Last week, Robin Seiler, who oversees Microsoft’s mixed reality operations, assured him that he is committed to maintaining some mixed reality products, including the Microsoft Mesh and HoloLens 2 headset.
However, the reassurances came shortly after Microsoft terminated its AltspaceVR meeting solution for avatars, as well as eliminated its entire team that created the Mixed Reality Toolkit, now a separate open source project.
Source link
