Microsoft reportedly shutting down industrial metaverse focused group
Microsoft, the US-based software giant, has announced that it is shutting down its all-encompassing tech-based group, abandoning the Metaverse in favor of other initiatives. The Information reports that the company has announced the disbandment of the internal Industrial Metaverse core group and that a division of the company has been directed to move the Metaverse into an industrial environment. The group, which was formed just 4 months ago, is tasked with building a bridge to the full implementation of the Metaverse interface for controlling electrical power plants and industrial robotics and transportation networks. This impact was a part of efforts directed to bring us the entrepreneurial and industrial environment towards the latest technology by re-bridging the software for this initiative. 100 employees who were part of the group were also laid off, while Microsoft maintains that the products manufactured by the group will continue to be supported and valued in the future. The company said, “We’re continuing to focus on the areas of the industrial metaverse that matter most to our customers and that impact our customers the most, and they won’t see any change in that.” how they are supported. We look forward to sharing more information in the future and working accordingly. Microsoft already announced in January to lay off 10,000 employees as part of a restructuring process And the recent turn of events suggests that Microsoft is diverting part of its resources from the Metaverse initiative to put into other areas, such as artificial intelligence. Earlier reports indicate that the cuts at Microsoft may affect other areas. Projects have also been affected, with employees at metaverse platform Altspacevr—which announced its closure as of March—and mixed reality platform Pulkit being shut down. is funding startups, and on January 23, the company revealed it would make a “multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment” in the latest launch, OpenAI, to drive its growth and become its definitive partner. And as part of this partnership, Microsoft recently announced the inclusion of ChatGPT in its search engine ring and will also serve as part of its web browser Edge. To support this move, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says, “AI will fundamentally change every category of software, starting with the biggest category ever – search.”
