Niantic, the company behind Pokémon Go (2016), is reportedly in talks with Saudi Arabia-owned Scopely to sell its gaming division.

According to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the talks, the report maintains the companies are currently discussing a $3.5 billion acquisition price, which could conclude in the coming weeks.

This would include the transfer of Pokémon Go in addition to Niantic’s other mobile games, such as Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom.

Niantic is also known for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, which attempted to replicate the success of Pokémon Go, but critically failed, forcing the company to shut down development in 2022.

Provided the sale goes through, this would leave the San Francisco-based Niantic to focus on its growing list of AR development platforms and geo-spatial mapping tools.

In May 2022, Niantic launched its Lightship Visual Positioning System, which forms an underlying 3D map of the world so AR devices can share the same frame of reference, even on massive scales.

Then, later that year, the company announced it was working with Qualcomm on a reference AR headset based on the Snapdragon AR2 platform, which at the time the company called an “outdoor AR headset.”

While Niantic hasn’t released any hardware as such, last September the company announced it was entering in a partnership with Snap to bring its AR pet simulator game Peridot to Snap’s fifth generation of Spectacles.

Then, a few months later, the company released its VPS-integrated WebXR app Into The Scaniverse, which was built using Niantic Studio to let users capture real-world locations in 3D and view on Meta Quest.

Without its gaming properties, we’d expect Niantic to essentially be all-in on AR, as the company would ostensibly look to leverage VPS, Niantic Studio and Niantic Spatial Platform SDK.

Indie studio Chipo y Juan announced their Minority Report-inspired mixed reality game Detective VR is set to release on Quest next week.

Coming to Quest 3 and 3S on February 27th, 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.

Promising a gameplay mix of Return of the Obra Dinn (2018), Immortality (2022) and Minority Report (2002), the studio says investigations won’t always be so straightforward, as testimonies prove unreliable, requiring you to confront suspects as you dip in and out of mixed and virtual reality.

The game, which is coming exclusively to the Quest platform, promises to deliver five hours of story-driven gameplay. With the ability to rewind, pause and play scenes to find hidden clues in the timeline, you’ll interact with six motion-captured and voiced characters.

You may even recognize the cast too, who have worked on TV series such as The Crown, Succession, and Doctor Who, which includes Luke Mably, Angus Wright, Melissa Bright, Hannah Wright, David Clark, Bryony Byrne.

The Marseille, France-based studio has also developed a number of VR projects in the past, including narrative experience VORTEX VR (2023) for Quest as well as a host of experiences for various art exhibitions.

You can pre-order Detective VR on the Horizon Store for Quest 3 and 3S today, priced at $24 as a pre-order discount of the full $30 price.

Meta announced its annual Connect developer conference is returning this year on September 17th-18th. While it’s probably still too early to speculate, there are a few things we’re hoping to hear about.

Meta typically fills out its speaker schedule closer to Connect, which may give us a better idea of what to expect come September. There’s also the long trail of leaks that inevitably crop up ahead of the event. So far, the company hasn’t provided any clues beyond the usual boilerplate:

“As in years past, we’ll share the latest and greatest in Meta Horizon updates, peel back the curtain on tomorrow’s tech, and give XR devs the tools they need to help build for the next computing platform today,” Meta says in the blogpost announce.

Still, Connect is typically the company’s premier event for its biggest announcements, and we’re already looking forward to a few.

At last year’s Connect, Meta revealed the October launch date of Quest 3S, the company’s latest mixed reality headset starting at $300. While we’re not expecting another Quest headset to launch this year, one thing we didn’t hear about at Connect 2024 was just when the rash of third-party headsets running Horizon OS will release, slated to arrive from Asus and Lenovo, in addition to an Xbox-flavored version of Quest.

Granted, it’s a seven-month wait until Connect 2025 kicks off, so it’s possible we could hear about those headsets sooner rather than later. Still, it’s a good bet Meta will put Horizon OS in the spotlight as it seeks to compete with Google’s forthcoming Android XR.

To boot, in January serial leaker ‘Luna‘ reported Asus may be the first out of the gate with a Horizon OS headset, which is reported to include eye-tracking, face-tracking, and displays which could either be quantum dot LCD with local dimming or micro-OLED, Luna reports.

At Connect 2024, Meta also unveiled Orion, an internal AR glasses prototype that packs a laundry list of features, which notably may not make their way to a consumer pair of Meta AR glasses for some time—coming at least before 2030, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth says. As the race to release an all-day pair of AR glasses heats up, we’re of course hoping to hear more at Connect 2025.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are also another area of growing interest. Last year the company brought AI tools for reminders and the ability to scan QR codes and phone numbers using voice commands. The gen 2 version of Ray-Ban Meta released in October 2023, so it stands to reason the companies are looking to launch a new generation to capitalize on the thus far successful segment.

Notably, a recent Bloomberg report maintained we may see an expansion this year. Essilor Luxottica is reportedly working with Meta to create a sportier model in addition to a high-end model with a built-in display.

And although you might expect Connect to be all about AI this year, the company seems to be offloading this to a separate developer conference, called LlamaCon, kicking off on April 29th, which will be dedicated to its family of generative AI models.

That said, it’s a long leadup to Connect 2025. Meta typically confirms the actual dates in the summer, making this the earliest the company has ever announced the dev conference. Maybe there’s something bigger on the horizon? Whatever the case, we’ll be keeping our eyes on the Meta developer blog and the Meta Connect website to glean what’s next.

Another Axiom announced that Orion Drift, its follow-up to hit VR game Gorilla Tag, is set to launch in early access next week, coming to Quest 2 and above.

Orion Drift has been in closed early access since late last year, letting up to 200 players take on an activity-packed social VR space while blasting around and playing various mini-games with its Gorilla Tag-style immersive movement mechanic.

The star of the show is undoubtedly ‘Drift Ball’, which feels a bit like a low-gravity version of handball, albiet played in a massive multi-level arena chock-full of energy boosts and action inspired by now-defunct sports game Echo VR.

Beyond Drift Ball, Orion Drift‘s massive space station also features various districts, including a parkour district for some Gorilla Tag-style climbing, a number of practice arenas to hone your Drift Ball skills, mini-games inspired by golf and basketball, and lounges to watch ongoing matches across multiple arenas.

And best of all: like its breakout hit Gorilla Tag, Orion Drift is free, or rather, it will be free to all owners of Quest 2 and above when open early access comes on February 25th.

You can already grab Orion Drift on the Horizon Store, although servers will remain in closed beta until February 23rd. Before opening its doors to everyone, Orion Drift will also be hosting an invitational tournament, taking place on February 24th.

The biggest question on our minds is whether Orion Drift will be able to live up to the hype of Gorilla Tag, which managed to generate over $100 million in revenue. Another interesting stat: 1 in 3 Quest owners have downloaded Gorilla Tag, making it far and away the most successful to date on standalone VR headsets.

The year’s first VR Games Showcase is getting ready to kick off, coming March 11th and promising a load of VR game reveals, updates and new trailers.

The livestream event promises to include 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.

Slated to offer the “biggest line-up yet” of XR games, VR Games Showcase has a pretty high bar to beat since last year’s event, which included reveals of Trombone Champ: Unflattened, FlatOut VR, and Arizona Sunshine Remake.

The upcoming event not only promises a fresh look at Hitman: World of Assassination running on PSVR 2, but also a host of games targeting Meta Quest and PC VR headsets.

“It’s fantastic to be back with our second VR Games Showcase,” said Jamie Feltham, CEO, The VR Showcase. “The support for the show is stronger than ever, with some incredible surprises in store. Whether you already have a headset or are interested in picking one up, VRGS is sure to have something for you.”

The VR Games Showcase takes place on March 11th at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET (local time here), coming to YouTube and TikTok Live.

Toast Interactive, VR veteran studio behind Richie’s Plank Experience (2017) and Max Mustard (2024), announced it’s closing office and laying off a majority of staff.

The Gold Coast, Australia-based studio revealed the news in an X post (seen below), noting that the “majority of our talented staff have suffered redundancies.”

This follows the studio’s first layoff round in November 2024, which affected 10 employees. At the time, the studio maintained that while Max Mustard was “one of the highest-rated games on both PSVR 2 and Meta Quest, it sadly can’t sustain a large indie team.”

It’s unclear the number of employees affected at the time of this writing. The studio says it isn’t closing entirely however, noting that remaining staff “will continue to improve Richie’s Plank Experience and Max Mustard with a lean approach.”

Founded in 2016 by wife and husband team Toni and Richard Eastes, Toast Interactive saw early success with the release of Richie’s Plank Experience, which let users sync a physical plank to its virtual counterpart to tiptoe above death-defying heights.

Originally developed for HTC Vive, Richie’s Plank Experience went on to support Rift, Quest and the original PSVR. Additionally, the studio says it’s still developing a version for PSVR 2.

Then, in 2024, the studio released the well-received VR platformer Max Mustard, which felt like the spiritual successor to Sony Japan Studio’s Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018). Initially launched on Quest 2 and above, the plucky platformer eventually made its way to SteamVR headsets and PSVR 2.

This comes amid ongoing turbulence in the XR gaming industry, which largely began in early 2024, with significant closures including Meta’s Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo, Echo VR), Sony’s London Studio (PlayStation Worlds, Blood & Truth), and indie developer Archiact (DOOM 3 Quest port).

More recently, several XR studios have downsized through staff layoffs, including VRChat, Fast Travel Games (Action Hero, Mannequin), Soul Assembly (Drop Dead series), XR Games (Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded), and nDreams (Frenzies, Vendetta Forever).

Here’s Toast Interactive’s full post:

To everyone in the VR community: we are closing the Toast Interactive office. It’s a heartbreaking decision that we never wanted to make. The majority of our talented team have suffered redundancies, and we will assist where we can with their next journey.

We’re incredibly grateful and proud of everything the team has accomplished. So much talent and passion went into the creation of Max Mustard and every single accolade speaks volumes. We will continue to improve Richie’s Plank Experience and Max Mustard with a lean approach.

We want to thank and acknowledge everyone who has been part of our journey at Toast.

Sincerely,
Toni and Richard