Wagner James Au / New World Notes
Author, strategist, virtual world reporter
recent posts
- Welcome to New World Notes’ 2006-2025 Archive!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
- Top Five Posts Including: Huge Rec Room Layoff & Meta Boots Neal Stephenson Off Facebook (Briefly)
- Four Glorious Second Life Sims to Explore — After Watching Sabina Valeska’s Machinima Tributes to Them!
- Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
about
Category: Virtual Reality
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Virtual World Usage Stats from S&P Global Market Intelligence — Plus VRChat & Second Life Specifics!
Originally posted on my Patreon Courtesy my metaverse pal Neil Barbour, research analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence, here's some pretty interesting virtual world user data infographics, based on a survey that the top intelligence firm recently conducted. Over 4000 consumers participated. And while the overall sample was demographically diverse, Neil notes, "respondents were heavily…
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Above: Me in a more innocent time (by which I mean 2024) Tech giants are still insisting XR headsets will go mass market, and now, in the latest version of this article of faith, that they'll somehow be integrated into personal superintelligence. While HMDs have many great niche applications, especially for short term use, I'm…
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Courtesy Neil Barbour, Research Analyst at S&P Global, here's some potent, data rich slides on the state of the VR market for developers to chew on this Summer. As the top slide indicates, hardware sales have been steadily trending downward after a brief COVID bump. (Click to embiggenate.) I haven't regularly tracked VR sales in…
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The cult classic Thief franchise is going VR! Courtesy Eidos (its original publisher) and Vertigo Games, creator of the award-winning creators of VR hits Metro Awakening and Arizona Sunshine, Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is set for release on Quest, PSVR, and on Steam this year. I'm only surprised a VR reboot has taken this…
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Originally published on my Patreon Kelly Stonelake is a 15 year veteran of Facebook/Meta, who recently filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging a series of highly serious charges around sexual assault, denied promotions, and a culture of discrimination. While her lawsuit has been covered elsewhere, her last role at Meta included Director of Product…
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Ex-Meta Director Helps Confirm What Went Wrong With Horizon Worlds: "No One Loved the Product": As I wrote back in March, a former Meta developer speaking on condition of anonymity described a workforce for Horizon who were mostly disinterested in virtual worlds or even VR. Kelly Stonelake, speaking on the record with me, is able…
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Horizon Worlds Pivoted to Compete With VRChat Around 2019 (Unsuccessfully), Says Senior Meta Veteran
I keep learning more about how Meta, one of the most powerful and profitable companies in human history, has been unable to grow its metaverse platform Horizon Worlds. Part of that story is told in my book (plug!), while another part of the story I wrote about here, in which Meta leadership decided to develop…
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I'm late to this party, but thanks to Julian of the Virtual Worlds Museum for flagging this to me: AltspaceVR, once a Microsoft-owned social VR platform with a pretty active community before the plug was pulled in 2023, is attempting a rebirth: My name is Danny Mac, and I’m the owner, CEO and Refounder of…
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Unlike the Convai-powered human NPCs we were recently discussing, AI-powered animals are far more interesting, believable, and frankly, appealingly un-creepy. So if you're interested in the best and latest in AI-driven virtual creatures, here's a chance to get a free Alpha preview of Stay: Forever Home, an upcoming mixed reality game for Quest headsets where you…
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Originally published on my Patreon After writing about Meta’s highly misguided $50 million bounty for developers to create content in Horizon Worlds, a former software engineer at Horizon Worlds reached out to me. They had read my latest book, where I devote a chapter to Meta’s many missteps in trying to build the Metaverse. But…
Wagner James Au / New World Notes 