Microsoft Reveals Its Own Metaverse At Ignite Conference

Days after Facebook rebranded as Meta and announced plans for the metaverse, Microsoft made an announcement at their Ignite conference on Tuesday that they are working on their own version of metaverse inside their Teams application.

Microsoft will call it Mesh, and it will launch next year, in the first half of 2022.

“We got hit by meeting fatigue in the virtual world,” explained general manager for Microsoft Teams, Nicole Herskowitz, in an interview with The Verge. “After 30- or 40-minutes max in a meeting, it was very hard to stay engaged and focused.”

Mesh aims to combat meeting fatigue combined with Together Mode, which creates a virtual live avatar to help users engage in virtual meetings. It places co-workers together in a virtual space, now that space can be inhabited in 2D or 3D virtual spaces.

The 2D version will present itself in virtual Zoom-like meetings, where users will present their avatar selves instead of their actual faces. In a 3D environment, Microsoft sees usefulness in creating a virtual reality space designed specifically for businesses, who can build their own metaverse where people network and socialize with games or use Microsoft apps to collaborate on projects.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft Vice President Jared Spataro explained that “you could, for instance, experience a Best Buy store in the metaverse” as well, allowing businesses more intimate access to their consumers.

The 3D environment will work optimally with a VR or AR headset but will be accessible across multiple devices.