Hello, and welcome back. Deus x Machina is back online.

Whilst waiting for the metaphorical sounding of Gabriel’s trumpet, it’s been a very langweilige Fegefeuer waiting to get back into the swing of things.

During this time, I could observe the industry grow, develop, and innovate from the sidelines. So many on LinkedIn have shared their stories of trial and error, celebrations, and humble setbacks, and these stories sketched a cumulative portrait of XR’s progress to date.

For better or worse (mostly better), we can assess our trajectory in our pathway to the Metaverse, and these regular assessments can serve as a litmus test to determine how far the market has achieved its goals.

Reports have shown that XR is set to experience exponential growth, surpassing $2.3tn in revenues and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.31 percent up to 2033.

Of course, these are merely projections that could easily face headwinds, but as optimists in a burgeoning and erratic tech field, we follow the maxim: “Aim for the moon, and you still reach the stars,” I suppose.

Despite missing out on some of the most enduring stories of the year — the Apple Vision Pro hitting the market being one of them — I remain enthralled with what the great community of tinkerers and thinkers in XR have pulled from the aethers down into their latest solutions.

Some of the most exciting developments I noted:

1. Both Manchester City and Manchester United embraced metaverse solutions with success on OKX And Adidas/ Roblox, respectively.
2. ARuVR received massive kudos after detailing the role of XR learning and development (L&D) at the HR in Action Conference in Greece.
3. The Augmented World Expo (AWE) took place 10-12 June in Long Beach, California, USA, uniting the entire spatial computing community to discuss, present, and explore XR, up close in personal. Its EU instalment is set to kick off in October, showcasing Europe’s XR talent.
4. Generative AI has become an integrative tool in designing and rolling out XR content, L&D modules, industrial metaverse infrastructure, character design, and world-building.
5. Parisian XR startup WiseAR has remained at the forefront of neural-brain technologies, providing huge leaps in human-to-computer interfacing (HCI). Advancements in hand and eye tracking across the Meta Quest 3, Apple Vision Pro, HTC XR Elite, and Varjo’s XR-4 have also emboldened efforts to elevate HCI experiences in the Metaverse.
6. Meta, Hugging Face, and Scaleway have joined forces to develop an AI Startup Programme for EU member-states to facilitate the growth and advancement of open-source artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. Based in Paris’ STATION F incubator, it has become the biggest startup campus in the world.
7. PicoXR released its PIUI v5.9.8 user interface, providing ehancements like play space (boundary) accuracy, enterprise interfaces, wireless ADB debugging, boosted business streaming with updated hand and eye tracking, and others.
8. Siemens announced its Transform 2024 event would take place in Manchester 17-18 July to showcase its portfolio of next-gen solutions, including the Siemens Xcelerator and the industrial metaverse.
9. Meta CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a recent interview on YouTube that his company’s next-gen holographic augmented reality (AR) smart glasses were “almost ready.”
10. The US Department Science and Technology Directorate rolled out its future-proof indoor visualisation and navigation device. With Qwake Technologies AR solution, the Department for Homeland Security (DHS)’s “vision” for a fire safety solution, C-THRU.
11. In-car VR entertainment pioneer holoride was forced to apply for insolvency due to a shortcoming in investment funding.

We have already faced the annus horribilis of 2022 and the slow but steady market recovery last year. 2024 continues to be a year where immersive technologies earn their breakthrough moment… the “ah ha!” epiphanic realisation that we are, and continue to become, surrounded by these spatial solutions in an integrated, functional manner that normalises the use of extended reality.

XR now pervades our shopping experiences to enhance the customer journey. Concerts have become experiential and immersive, both outside and inside the headset. Gaming has become an extension of the senses, and manufacturing, medicine, and the military have found a trusted ally in XR as they cultivate a culture of efficiency, problem-solving, and collaboration via these empowering remote spatial computing tools.

These are great times… and our story has just begun. Let’s discuss.

Ad aspera ad astra,

Demond @ Deus x Machina