The company previously called Facebook isn't the only tech giant attempting to sell you on the metaverse. Microsoft recently introduced its Microsoft Teams metaverse for meetings and video conferences, but the business also has plans for gaming and entertainment.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that the software company is "absolutely" focusing on gaming for the metaverse with Xbox.
"You can absolutely expect us to do things in gaming," Nadella said. "If you take 'Halo' as a game, it is a metaverse. 'Minecraft' is a metaverse, and so is 'Flight Sim.' In some sense, they're 2D today, and the question is can you now take that to a full 3D world, and we absolutely plan to do so."
Nadella defined shared virtual worlds as a "completely new platform" that will allow people to "embed computing into the real world, and to embed the real world into computing-bringing real presence to any digital space" during Microsoft's annual Ignite conference.
With a framework dubbed Mesh, Microsoft has already invested in integrating components of augmented and virtual reality into the real world, specifically into the office. Mesh now includes Microsoft Teams, the company's video-conferencing and collaboration service.
This means that Teams will get new customizable 2D and 3D avatars that people can use in video conferences instead of a typical profile image or a video of their face.
Transforming "Minecraft," "Halo," and "Flight Simulator" into full 3D worlds is a big accomplishment, especially if these worlds will allow players to explore them side by side with VR or AR headsets.
"Flight Simulator" already achieves a lot of this, with participants flying planes in a multiplayer setting that simulates real-world weather and locations.
Microsoft's drive into a 3D metaverse for games in general has yet to be committed to by Nadella. Today's enterprise announcements from Microsoft are mostly focused on 3D avatars and shared virtual worlds, and Xbox has had its own 3D avatars for years.
The question will be how Microsoft adapts its AltspaceVR social network and first-party games for Xbox metaverse applications, as well as whether the company will ever deliver virtual reality and VR or AR headgear to Xbox consoles.
