The XR Week Peek (2025.02.25): Niantic may sell Pokemon Go, Meta announces $50M creator fund for Horizon Worlds, and more!
A new week, a new selection of XR news to read! Top news of the week Niantic is evaluating selling its gaming division According to a report from Bloomberg, Niantic is in talks with Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely to sell its gaming division for $3.5 billions. If you’ve not realized it yet, this basically means that Niantic may […] The post The XR Week Peek (2025.02.25): Niantic may sell Pokemon Go, Meta announces $50M creator fund for Horizon Worlds, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
A new week, a new selection of XR news to read!
Top news of the week
Niantic is evaluating selling its gaming division
According to a report from Bloomberg, Niantic is in talks with Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely to sell its gaming division for $3.5 billions. If you’ve not realized it yet, this basically means that Niantic may be selling Pokemon Go to another company.
This piece of news caught me by surprise: Pokemon Go has been a huge hit of a game, and even if the hype around it has faded away, the game still makes impressive revenues today thanks to its community of aficionados. Niantic has never managed to replicate the same success with another game, though: even games that looked promising in the beginning, like an AR game about Harry Potter, failed and were discontinued soon after. It’s very strange that a company is selling its brightest jewel, the cash cow that gives it the money to keep being operational and also sustain new parts of the business. Also, Pokemon Go is not giving Niantic only money, but also a huge amount of data through which it is training its AR algorithms, and in particular its VPS and world meshing (AR Cloud) ones.
According to the analysts, Niantic is selling its gaming division to focus on its vision of building the “outdoor metaverse”, that is becoming a provider of AR services, and eventually even power AR headsets (as it teased a few years ago). Having $3.5B in cash and fewer distractions from the gaming side would help Niantic to focus purely on AR and its geospatial tools, making the company make big steps forward in this sector. It is a crazy bet, it is like going all-in on AR, knowing that without the constant money from Pokemon Go, there is no safety net in case the operation doesn’t succeed.
While as an entrepreneur I think the move is very risky, to be exact a high-risk, a high-reward one that probably I would have not had the courage to take, as an XR enthusiast, I am very happy to hear this, because it means that Niantic is a big believer in the future of XR and thinks that the right moment to do this bet is now. And if it thinks the right moment is now, the reason is that it probably thinks that AR is going to surge in the next 3 years…
Other relevant news
Meta announces $50M fund for Horizon Worlds
Meta has announced a $50M fund for creators for its metaverse platform Horizon Worlds. The money will be given as bonuses to the creators who will have contributed the most to the ecosystem. As Meta states, “Each month, we’ll pay out bonuses from the Creator Fund to the makers of fun and engaging mobile and MR worlds. Bonuses will be tied to worlds’ contributions to the overall ecosystem across time spent, retention, and in-world purchases, so there are a variety of different ways for creators to maximize their earnings”. As part of the initiative, Meta is also launching a contest of worlds on Horizon Worlds on March, 11, with prizes as high as $100,000.
Meta is also improving the tools to develop for Horizon Worlds, and the new Meta Horizon Worlds desktop editor allows creators to ditch the simplistic in-world creation tools to use a more powerful application to create their worlds. The new editor resembles a simplified version of a game engine like Unity or Unreal and allows one to program the world logic with Typescript, which is a quite successful web programming language. The result will be worlds that will look prettier and will be more engaging.
Of course, I am in general happy to hear this piece of news: the fact that Meta is deploying better creation tools for its ecosystem, plus is also giving money to creators is amazing. But I have also a couple of things I’m not a big fan of regarding this.
The first is that it comes at a pretty unfortunate time: all XR developers are complaining about their visibility problems on the Horizon Store and are telling Meta to stop giving so much visibility to Horizon Worlds because this way is killing the business of many startups (in the next paragraph of this roundup you’ll see we had new layoffs this week). The situation is so bad that Android Central has published an opinion piece where it states that Meta had better kill Horizon Worlds or all this attention is given to it would end up killing the whole Quest ecosystem. And what does Meta do as an answer? It announces new money to Horizon Worlds creators. I know probably Meta planned for this fund months ago, but in any case, this announcement feels like a joke now.
Then I’m not personally a big fan of the way of distributing this money. Meta is not accepting pitches and funding interesting world projects. That would have been a good way to attract teams of professionals to build astonishing worlds and give value to the Horizon ecosystem while also giving money to XR startups. Maybe also some game studios struggling with the store could have taken some money to survive from this grant. Instead, Meta lets you build worlds and then, if they have success, it rewards you with some money. But startups and small teams of professionals can not commit to spending weeks crafting great worlds without having the certainty of getting the work paid. So this is another missed opportunity to help the Quest dev ecosystem. People who will accept this call are the ones who can afford to do the work without being sure of being paid, like kids, students, or just big fans of Horizon Worlds. To me, this seems the intention of creating a clone ecosystem of Roblox, where many kids work a lot to build worlds, and only a few make big money.
In the end, the New World Notes blog also makes a good point: if Meta is putting such a big fund to support Horizon, it means that the creators’ ecosystem on Horizon Worlds currently does not work. But Meta should aim at attracting people not with money, but with its product. If people come just to get the money, the ecosystem remains poor, because their interest is only transactional. See what happened with the Web3 platform where everyone was selling land and then there were like 8 users hanging around. I do not want to sound repetitive, but Meta has (or had?) a thriving ecosystem, and it was one of the developers for its Horizon Store, so maybe it should work in supporting that one…
In the end, I repeat that I still think that in my opinion, more money for creators in the ecosystem is still good news. But I think Meta should improve its general strategy.
More info (Meta announces $50M creator fund for Horizon Worlds)
More info (New desktop editor for Horizon Worlds is now available)
More info (Why paying creators may not be the best idea)
More info (Android Central thinks Meta should kill Horizon Worlds)
The troubled moment of XR continues
The troubled moment of XR, with news of layoffs, continues. At the same time, also the turmoil around the Meta Horizon Store continues, with developers still complaining about having their games not being noticed, and users complaining about finding only shovelware instead of valuable games. There are still stories of success, though, but they seem to be fewer than before.
This is what happened this week around this theme:
- Embracer Group told its investors that Metro Awakening “underperformed management financial expectations”. The game still brought many revenues and got good reviews, but the owner company was still unsatisfied with it
- Toast Interactive, the studio behind Richie’s Plank Experience and Max Mustard, had to lay off people and close its office. The company still remains operational but with a small team, that will try to keep alive both games. When the community asked what happened on Reddit, people from Toast replied that one of the main problems was that Max Mustard was hard to find on the Quest Store, and so it had disappointing sales, notwithstanding the general praise of the game
- People are keeping sharing on Reddit screenshots about the Horizon Store not giving them what they are looking for, but random crappy titles. It seems that not only developers, but users, too, are getting frustrated at the store
- Schell Games is renaming Among Us VR into Among Us 3D and making the game available also to flatscreen devices. There will be crossplatform multiplayer between VR and non-VR users, but not between 3D and 2D users. This change clearly reflects the will to gain more users than what the VR niche can offer at the moment
- 3R Games, the studio behind Thief Simulator VR: Greenview Street, revealed the game has sold over 310,000 units on Quest alone. The regular price of $20 of the game puts its theoretical maximum revenue around $6.2 million. This shows that while many studios are struggling, there are still some stories of success, and this gives me hope.
More info (Metro Awakening underperformed — Road To VR)
More info (Metro Awakening underperformed — Upload VR)
More info (Toast Interactive laying off most of its employees — Road To VR)
More info (Toast Interactive laying off most of its employees — Upload VR)
More info (A Redditor showing the unsatisfying Meta Store search results)
More info (Among Us VR now becoming compatible with flatscreens)
More info (Thief Simulator having great sales)
Meta announces the dates for Connect 2025
Meta has announced that Meta Connect this year will take place on September 17 and 18. There’s no agenda currently published on the website, but we can still make some speculations. The company won’t announce a Quest 4, but there should be new smart glasses (one from Oakley for athletes and one with a HUD), and some updates on the 3rd party Horizon headsets made by Lenovo and ASUS. There won’t be news about AI because Meta has just announced that it has created a new event specifically dedicated to it called LlamaCon.
More info (Meta Connect 2025 — Upload VR)
More info (Meta Connect 2025 — Road To VR)
News worth a mention
Palmer Luckey provides more details about its headset
In an interview with former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan, Palmer Luckey has provided more details about the headset he is building for the military sector. He said that it is better than the current IVAS device because it is not a mod of an existing headset, but a device created from the ground-up for military purposes. He also said that thanks to the integration with Anduril’s Lattice, the soldier wearing it can be aware of everything he has in the surroundings.
Palmer is very bullish about his device and he said “It is going to be by far the best AR/VR/MR vision augmentation system that has ever been built; in terms of resolution, in terms of field of view, in terms of graphical fidelity, in terms of sensor quality, and what you can do with those sensors.”. He even arrived to claim that “It is a bigger jump from what exists today than the jump that I made when I started Oculus. It is a jump that I think cannot be overstated”. These are very bold statements and I can’t wait to see this headset to understand its actual innovations.
Meta now uses “MR” to refer both to MR and VR
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has clarified on social media that now Meta uses “MR” as an umbrella term for both MR and VR. The problem is that this does not happen only on marketing materials: even when developers are asked what they usually do, the answers are like “AR” or “MR”, with no mention of VR whatsoever.
This makes no sense to me: “MR” implies a reality that is a mix of real and virtual elements, so it can not include pure VR. Plus, most of the content on Quest is currently just VR. In my opinion, this is just another example of Meta’s obsession with Apple: Apple never talks about VR, and only talks about MR and spatial. So now Meta is doing the same to show that the Quest is in the same category as the Vision Pro. But VR developers are now scared that the company is not focusing on their content anymore.
Meta Quest v74 runtime includes DisplayPort mode… in output
The latest runtime for Quest introduces a bunch of interesting updates. The first one that caught my attention was the “DisplayPort” support. I got pretty excited because I thought it was the ability to connect the Quest to the DisplayPort of the PC and having uncompressed PCVR, but actually it is another thing. You can now connect an external monitor to the USB-C port of the Quest to have high-quality mirroring on it. This is a very interesting feature for demos and exhibitions. Meta is also improving the casting experience in general, including the wireless one, so it seems this runtime version is very focused on this feature.
Among the other features we have the ability to have 2D windows open when you are playing VR games: it was available also before, but now this functionality is not experimental anymore. There is also automatic travel detection that triggers Travel Mode, and easier setup of multiple rooms in the same house.
To read the full list of features, click on the link here below.
The VR Games Showcase returns on March, 11th
We have now more info on the upcoming VR Games Showcase. The event will be held on March, 11th and promises to include a new look at Hitman: World of Assassination running on PSVR 2, Roboquest VR, and Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR, as well as new game announcements from Flat2VR Studios.
A Humble Bundle for developers
Humble Bundle has a new available bundle, but this time is not for gamers, but for developers. Called “The All-In-One VR Game Dev Bundle”, it offers many resources useful for developers, for all the most famous engines: Unity, Unreal, and Godot.
Some news about content
- Detective VR is a narrative-based MR game that lets you control time, collect clues, and interview witnesses in Passthrough mode, bringing the investigation to your living room. The game is coming on February, 27 for $30
- Silent North, the upcoming VR shooter that promises plenty of multiplayer zombie survival action, is slated to arrive in March. A 15% discount is currently available for preorders
- Chronostrike is a co-op shooter inspired by SUPERHOT mechanics. It is currently available on Meta Quest for $25
- Monster Snap, a game where you have to shoot pictures at famous monsters like Big Foot, currently targets a Q1 2026 release date for Quest and PC VR
- Gorilla Tag’s studio has launched in Early Access its second game, Orion Drift
- Pixelity announced it’s currently developing an XR game based on the hit ’90s anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. The game is slated to arrive in 2026
- Neko Atsume Purrfect is celebrating ten years with a new event, featuring crossovers with Breachers, Walkabout Mini Golf, and Gorilla Tag. I like the idea of collaborations and cross-promotions between various games on the store
- VR parkour platformer Pixel Arcade has been released for Meta Quest
- Pinball FX VR, which brings the flatscreen game on Quest adding a new environment, mixed reality support, and more, is coming on April 3rd
- Ghost Photographers asks you to explore spooky, spectre-filled environments with just a smartphone, a few candles, and your friends to save you. It is available now on the Quest store for €14
- Mythic Realms, the mixed reality roguelite RPG that aims to turn your living room into a colorful fantasy adventure, is slated to release on March 13 for €18. A preorder discount is available
- Upload VR has published its usual XR News Round-Up post with many pieces of minor XR news
More info (Detective VR)
More info (Silent North)
More info (Chronostrike)
More info (Monster Snap)
More info (Orion Drift)
More info (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
More info (Neko Atsume)
More info (Pixel Arcade)
More info (Pinball FX VR)
More info (Ghost Photographers)
More info (Mythic Realms)
More info (XR News Round-Up)
Some reviews about content
- “One True Path — Part 1” is an interesting VR narrative experience. This doesn’t come as a surprise, since it is made by the same team behind “A Fisherman’s Tale”
- “Realize Music: Sing” is a karaoke experience made to chill out. It has a wide catalogue of songs. Unluckily, it is currently plagued by many bugs and usability issues
- Ashen Arrow is a good game that mixes the VR shooter genre with roguelite mechanics
- “Selina: Mind At Large” is a narrative adventure plagued by some bugs, but still delivers in its purpose of making you enter into the mind of the main character, creating a special connection with her
More info (One True Path)
More info (Realize Music: Sing)
More info (Ashen Arrows)
More info (Selina: Mind At Large)
Other news
An article on Upload VR shows how VR games look good with an RTX 5090 graphics card
Here is the list of all the Apple Intelligence functionalities to be released in VisionOS 2.4
A very thorough comparison of hand tracking on PSVR 2 vs on Quest
Microsoft may have cracked the formula for quantum chips
Tap With Us made a wonderful video showing the evolution of VR headsets
News from partners (and friends)
Discover Golden Kingdom
Golden Kingdom is an indie game with a very ambitious vision: to create a fantasy action RPG with an open world offering realistic graphics. I think this is the dream of many PCVR enthusiasts, so I hope the team can deliver it. If you’re curious about this game, there is a free demo that you can download in occasion of the Steam Next Fest…
Learn more (Official website)
Learn more (Free demo on Steam)
Some XR fun
Can AI do this? Can AI do that?
Funny link
Meta listening to us developers
Funny link
It’s technically a war crime, but it works…
Funny link
Donate for good
Like last week, also this week in this final paragraph I won’t ask you to donate to my blog, but to the poor people who are facing the consequences of the war. Please donate to the Red Cross to handle the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine. I will leave you the link to do that below.
Let me take a moment before to thank anyway all my Patreon donors for the support they give to me:
- Alex Gonzalez VR
- DeoVR
- GenVR
- Eduardo Siman
- Jonn Fredericks
- Jean-Marc Duyckaerts
- Reynaldo T Zabala
- Richard Penny
- Terry xR. Schussler
- Ilias Kapouranis
- Paolo Leoncini
- Immersive.international
- Nikk Mitchell and the great FXG team
- Jake Rubin
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- Cognitive3D
- Wisear (Yacine Achiakh)
- Masterpiece X
- Dimo Pepelyashev
- Carol Dalrymple
- Keith Bradner
- Jennifer Granger
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- Jan Schroeder
- Kai Curtis
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- Andrew Deutsch
- Fabien Benetou
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- Marco “BeyondTheCastle” Arena
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- Qcreator
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- Vooiage Technologies
- Caroline
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- Wil Stevens
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- Steve R
- Brentwahn
- Michael Gaebler
- Tiago Silva
- Matt Cool
- Mark G
- Simplex
- Gregory F Gorsuch
- Paul Shay
- Matias Nassi
And now here you are the link to donate:
Support The Red Cross in Ukraine
(Header image by Niantic)
The post The XR Week Peek (2025.02.25): Niantic may sell Pokemon Go, Meta announces $50M creator fund for Horizon Worlds, and more! appeared first on The Ghost Howls.
