Microsoft Xbox Head: Industry Has Work To Do On Major Mixed Reality Device

Video game companies and publishers everywhere just wrapped up E3 2017, and with the biggest industry event now in the rear view mirror, they’ve now moved onto future plans. As for Microsoft, the publisher had a notable E3 week, but Xbox head Phil Spencer is looking farther into the future for the home console and Microsoft.

Spencer detailed Microsoft’s eventual ambitions for mixed reality features on consoles and PCs in an interview with Time. At the moment, Microsoft has made significant investments in virtual reality and augmented reality within the past few years through products like the Microsoft HoloLens. Augmented reality, which has been popularized by games like Pokémon Go , refers to technology that overlays digital elements on top of the real world.

Read: Virtual Reality Headset Sales On The Rise

While Spencer said the platform has seen great strides from Microsoft and other companies like HTC and Sony, he predicted a higher-end headset or device that could reach mass market scale was still five to 10 years out from happening. But although the platform is still wrestling with growing pains like needing to be tethered to a desktop or console, Spencer is confident the industry can figure out how to bring the technology to the general public.

"I love that we did HoloLens, not because I think everybody should go buy a $3,000 HoloLens,” Spencer told Time. “It wasn't made for everybody. We've said that it's a developer kit. Now we're doing kind of the other end with Windows Mixed Reality and $299 with OEM partners. But even then, with all these cables hanging off the back of your head, especially in a family room environment, that's hard."

Elsewhere, Spencer is similarly confident in the potential for mixed reality applications to expand beyond gaming and move into use by the general public, along with more elaborate applications for artificial intelligence.

Read: Virtual Reality Park The Void Offers Unique Take On VR Experience

“I'm a big believer in a metaverse future where the volumetric world mixed with something like Xbox Live with AI [artificial intelligence] components around you, avatars and some of them real world — that's what we're really talking about,” Spencer told Time. “When we talk about that five-year future, I think that is the space that we have to land where everything I interact with from creatures to people to the objects around me, the world blends between real and physical and virtual, and the characters and AI capability do the same."

At least in the console space, virtual reality and mixed reality are still in their early stages. For now, Sony has been the only company to jump into virtual reality with its PlayStation VR headset. While the headset has some technical limitations compared to high-end models like the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, it’s still been a relatively strong performer for Sony and recently broke the 1 million unit sales mark despite being released last fall.