Meta Platforms Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) halted plans to develop its own operating system for virtual and augmented reality devices, according to a report in The Information. But the company is rebutting the claims.
The report said Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, paused its XROS project (referring to an extended reality operating system) in November. VR devices like those from its Oculus division currently run on an Android-based operating system, making Meta reliant on other companies to operate in the metaverse.
A Meta spokesperson said in an email the company was "not halting or scaling back our operations in building a reality operating system. The team continues to make progress and we continue to invest in building for future computing platforms like AR glasses and wearable devices to help realize our metaverse vision."
One of the XROS leads named in the report, Gabriel Aul, tweeted that Meta was still working on "a highly specialized OS for our devices," and that the team was growing, not shrinking. Meta has three openings for the XROS team on its job postings page, all based in Redmond.
Aul is a vice president of Reality Labs Engineering for Meta.
Another XROS lead, Mark Lucovsky, left the company last year for Google. The Information reported the XROS project was shelved soon after he left.
Virtual and augmented reality, or extended reality, make up an enormous part of Meta's work in the Northwest. The Bay Area-based company has roughly 7,000 employees in Washington state, according to Business Journal research
Maher Saba, vice president of remote presence, told the Business Journal last year that a "critical mass" of Meta's remote presence and messenger teams are based in the Seattle area. The company also has significant Oculus labs in Redmond.
