Category Archives: Games

VITURE Calls XREAL Lawsuit “patent-troll-style” in Escalating AR Glasses IP Battle

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AR glasses maker XREAL is taking its competitor VITURE to court over a patent dispute, claiming that it’s selling and/or importing units into the US that infringe on its intellectual property. Viture claims however that Xreal is using the suit as a weapon to unfairly compete in the market rather than as a legitimate defense of innovation.

Xreal announced last week it was bringing a lawsuit against its direct competitor Viture, both of which have operating roots in China.

Xreal claims that Viture unlawfully makes, sells, and imports AR glasses that infringe its US patent, which covers a specific birdbath-style optical system. Notably, birdbath-style optics a generally cheaper and more easily produced than waveguides, like those seen in Meta’s 2024 Orion AR prototype.

VITURE Luma | Image courtesy VITURE

In a recent Reddit post, Viture has publicly disavowed Xreal’s narrative, arguing that Xreal is essentially acting as a patent troll.

“We deeply respect intellectual property,” Viture says. “IP exists to protect genuine innovation and to move an industry forward, not to be weaponized to create fear, confusion, or artificial barriers. Unfortunately, what we are seeing today does not reflect that principle.”

Continuing: “From our perspective, this bears striking resemblance to a patent-troll-style action that targeted XREAL last year, and now mirrors the same tactics being used against us.”

Technically, Viture argues that Xreal’s patent in question (US 11,988,839 B2) covers birdbath optical technology that is long-established and largely covered by expired prior art.

Viture claims that similar patents have already been rejected in China, that its products do not infringe, and that Xreal’s patent adds only minor, appearance-level changes rather than true optical innovation. Furthermore, Viture characterizes the patent as low-value and easily invalidated.

XREAL Aura | Image courtesy Google

A major point of contention is what Viture calls “deliberate misinformation,” specifically Xreal’s claims that its products are “banned across nine European countries.”

Viture maintains this as false: only the Viture Pro in Germany was affected by a preliminary injunction (as outlined by Android Authority), the product was already sold out, and all other products remain legally sold across Europe.

The company has appealed the injunction and filed a formal challenge to the patent’s validity, and says it has initiated legal action over what it calls “the deliberate circulation of false claims.”

Granted, it may be some time before we hear more about this case, as it’s just been filed in the Eastern District of Texas, and is still in early procedural stages. There is not public trial date at the time of this writing.

You can read Viture’s full response here on Reddit.

The post VITURE Calls XREAL Lawsuit “patent-troll-style” in Escalating AR Glasses IP Battle appeared first on Road to VR.

Memoreum Director Tries Patreon & Sideloading To Distribute New Quest Game

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Billed as a large-scale VR sci-fi action game inspired by Starship Troopers, a title called Hivefall is available in Early Access through the Patreon of Memoreum’s director.

Access is granted via a Patreon page and SideQuest from Wim Buytaert, the director of Memoreum. Hivefall is the latest creation from the director focused around the concept of base defense. Each mission lets players prepare before a massive assault of alien bugs tears down their walls, culminating in a bombastic final wave with large bosses.

This early build is specifically made with the Quest 3 in mind, with a downloadable file sent to paying subscribers on Google Drive and installable by sideloading through the SideQuest app. The developer mentioned that the sci-fi action shooter is “inspired by everything I always wanted from Starship Troopers in VR.”

As the commander of an Earth-based military corporation, your terraforming efforts to colonize new planets end up waking up an alien organism hellbent on infecting other solar systems. The current build provides access to the first three missions of Hivefall and a fully functional progression tier system with skins. The solo developer aims to update the project every month with new content.

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The first level of Hivefall, set on a colorful purple planet riddled with bugs.

After spending some time with this early build and going through the hassle of setting up SideQuest and uploading the files needed to work correctly, we’ll be curious to see how many people are willing to go through the sideloading process. Hivefall’s dev is basically investigating that very prospect with his offering. Distributing work in VR via Patreon is not unheard of, with Davigo’s flat PC vs. VR game running a campaign. I can confirm the game runs in an early alpha state on Quest 3, but a considerable number of the planned pieces are still work in progress or missing. The bugs are still looking pretty pixelated to my eyes in the first build distributed for the game.

“This project may realistically be my final venture in the VR industry if it does not become financially sustainable. That said, VR remains my true passion and the space where I most want to create and innovate,” the developer wrote over email. “This project represents not only a game, but years of experience, dedication, and belief in immersive technology.”

Last year’s survival horror Memoreum from the dev received praise for its ambitious goals while falling short of expectations in other areas, as we said in our review, “there’s going to be someone out there who will love Memoreum, even with its rough spots, and they’ll have a sizable experience to dig into.”

Regular episodic campaigns and the possibility of an online co-op mode may be in the cards for the game depending on the support it receives.

Hivefall is available now for Quest 3 via Patreon.

Palmer Luckey: Meta Isn’t Abandoning VR, Studio Closures “A Good Thing”

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Palmer Luckey thinks Meta closing its VR game studios is “a good thing for the long-term health of the industry”, and that the narrative of it “abandoning” VR is “obviously false”.

If you somehow missed it: last week Meta shut down three of its acquired studios – Twisted Pixel Games (Deadpool VR), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR) – and conducted significant layoffs at a fourth: Camouflaj (Batman: Arkham Shadow).

The closures are part of Meta’s wider strategy of, in its own words, “shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and Wearables”, and the layoffs have affected around 10% of Meta’s Reality Labs division, around 1500 people.

Meta Closes Deadpool VR, Asgard’s Wrath & Resident Evil 4 VR Studios
Meta has shut down Twisted Pixel Games (Deadpool VR), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR), UploadVR can confirm.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

This strategy shift has led some in the industry to speculate that Meta is abandoning VR entirely. But Oculus founder Palmer Luckey doesn’t agree.

In a post on X, Luckey argued that last week’s events were “not a disaster”, pointing out that Meta still employs more people working on VR than any other company “by about an order of magnitude”.

Further, Luckey explains that “crowding out the rest of the entire ecosystem” by forcing third-party developers to compete with blockbusters like Batman and Deadpool games that cost more to make than they would ever return “doesn’t make sense”, suggesting that the end of this strategy will be “a good thing for the long-term health of the industry”.

He further notes that while some of these titles are received well, others fail, revealing that Rock Band VR, a 2017 Oculus Rift exclusive, sold just 700 copies.

Here’s Palmer Luckey’s full statement:

“I have an opinion on the Meta layoffs that is contrary with most of the VR industry and much of the media, but strongly held.

This is not a disaster. They still employ the largest team working on VR by about an order of magnitude. Nobody else is even close. The “Meta is abandoning VR” narrative is obviously false, 10% layoffs is basically six months of normal churn concentrated into 60 days, strictly numbers wise.

The majority of the 1,500 jobs cut in Reality Labs (out of 15,000) were roles working on first-party content, internally developed games that competed directly with third party developers. I think this is a good decision, and I thought the same back when I was still at Oculus.

Change always sucks because people lose their jobs in the process, but in a world of limited resources, Meta heavily subsidizing their own (with money, marketing, placement, etc) at the expense of core technical progress and platform stability doesn’t make sense. Crowding out the rest of the entire ecosystem, even less so. Every developer big and small, even the hyper-efficient ones, have had an extremely hard time competing with games developed by Meta-owned teams with budgets and teams that spend vastly in excess of earning potential. People will point out that these teams did an awesome job and got awesome reviews from critics and customers alike – yes, and fucked up though it is, that makes the problem even worse!

Some people will say “they should have just funded those developers as external studios rather than acquiring them, then!”. Yes, I agree, but hindsight is 20/20. Do you think Oculus expected to only sell 700 copies of Rock Band VR after spending eight figures to make sure it was ready and awesome for Rift CV1 launch, to the point of bundling the guitar adapter with every single headset? Of course not, but sometimes you learn what the world actually wants from you the hard way.

TL;DR, I feel really bad for the people impacted, but this is a good thing thing for the long-term health of the industry, especially the ongoing incentives.

(Nobody at Meta knows I am making this post)”

Palmer Luckey’s Anduril Partners With Meta To Build Military XR Devices
Palmer Luckey’s Anduril is teaming up with Meta to build XR products for US and allied militaries, starting with the EagleEye AR/VR helmet.
UploadVRDavid Heaney

After being fired from Oculus by Facebook in 2017, Luckey founded Anduril, a defense firm that makes and sells drones, loitering munitions, interceptors, cruise missiles, sentry towers, and even unmanned submarines, as well as a software system that integrates them and other assets into a unified view of the battlespace. It was most recently valued at over $30 billion.

In 2024, Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth publicly apologized to Luckey, an apology which he also publicly accepted. And last year, Anduril and Meta announced a partnership to build XR products for US and allied militaries, starting with the EagleEye AR/VR helmet.

“The people acting like I am some stooge who will obviously agree with everything Meta does need to read a history book or something, jfc

Oculus had a strong internal mandate to NOT be Nintendo and instead build things that build the ecosystem. Returning to that is good.”

In response to the idea that he was “stooge who will obviously agree with everything Meta does”, Luckey suggests those under that belief read a history book.

Oculus Founder on Meta Cuts: “The ‘Meta abandoning VR narrative’ is obviously false”

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In light of Reality Labs’ reorganization, which has seen recent internal studio closures and layoffs, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey calls the doomer narrative “obviously false.”

The News

Luckey literally kickstarted consumer VR more than a decade ago with the founding of Oculus, which in 2014 was acquired by Meta (ex-Facebook) for $2 billion.

Having departed the company in 2017, Luckey still maintains close ties to the industry; his defense company Anduril is working with Meta to build “the world’s best AR and VR systems for the US military.” So when Luckey voices his opinion, it’s usually from an insiders perspective:

“I have an opinion on the Meta layoffs that is contrary with most of the VR industry and much of the media, but strongly held,” Luckey says in a recent X post.

“This is not a disaster. They still employ the largest team working on VR by about an order of magnitude. Nobody else is even close. The “Meta is abandoning VR” narrative is obviously false, 10% layoffs is basically six months of normal churn concentrated into 60 days, strictly numbers wise.”

Palmer Luckey demoing Meta Orion AR prototype | Image courtesy Palmer Luckey

Luckey argues that while Meta’s VR layoffs are regrettable, they’re an overall positive since Meta-funded internal games crowded out third-party developers and diverted resources from core platform and technical progress.

“Some people will say ‘they should have just funded those developers as external studios rather than acquiring them, then!’ Yes, I agree,” Luckey says, admitting that hindsight is 20/20:

“Do you think Oculus expected to only sell 700 copies of Rock Band VR after spending eight figures to make sure it was ready and awesome for Rift CV1 launch, to the point of bundling the guitar adapter with every single headset? Of course not, but sometimes you learn what the world actually wants from you the hard way.”

My Take

The takes are still very hot at the moment, as it’s been less than a week since Meta closed three first-party studios: Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 Quest port), Twisted Pixel (Deadpool VR), and Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath).

Details are still coming too, including the revelation that unannounced projects, such as a Harry Potter Quest exclusive and Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel, were reportedly in the works, but are now cancelled.

Maybe this eventually proves healthy for the ecosystem. But right now, it’s hard to call it a clear win when we don’t yet know how far Meta’s pullback goes, or what the ‘plan B’ really is for Quest.

A brief counter to Luckey’s optimism: what if Nintendo announced it was cancelling a bunch of first-party games for Switch 2, and would instead focus on non-gaming platforms? Even if third-party developers benefited in theory, the signal to the market would be unmistakable.

Or maybe the more apt comparison is PSVR 2, where Sony’s quiet pullback from first and third-party funding didn’t “free” the ecosystem so much as signal exhaustion, reinforcing the perception of VR as a medium unable to scale beyond its niche.

The post Oculus Founder on Meta Cuts: “The ‘Meta abandoning VR narrative’ is obviously false” appeared first on Road to VR.