@ID_AA_Carmack NB: we use MR instead of MR/VR now. The term covers both for us internally.

I see some positive things in the leaked @boztank memo, but I worry that the top level strategic direction is flawed. “We need to drive sales, retention, and engagement across the board but especially in MR. And Horizon Worlds on mobile absolutely has to break out for our long term plans to have a chance.” Why would you say “especially in MR”? Mixed Reality is seen by some as a stepping stone to the future fantasy AR world that justifies all past losses, so it gets more focus than it objectively deserves. A good pass-through video background makes sense for lots of apps, and this has delivered real user value. Adapting simulated experiences to the physical world has made for compelling demos, but there are fundamental experience design reasons why it is harder to make mainstream experiences with long term retention that way. Developers should be aware of where it can be a positive user experience, and may choose to bend their designs somewhat to take advantage when it makes sense, but setting out to “make an MR app” instead of “make a valuable app” is already a step off the path of steepest value ascent. I’m always ready to have the market show me to be in error, but I don’t think it has. “And Horizon Worlds on mobile absolutely has to break out for our long term plans to have a chance.” You have just assigned infinite value to one outcome, which encourages everyone to favor marginal improvements there over larger improvements elsewhere. If you had stopped at “We need to drive sales, retention, and engagement across the board”, and added “above all else”, it would have been a great memo!

Dear VR designers Stop thinking about your portfolio Start thinking about your customers

In a leaked memo, Meta's CTO told staff that 2025 will determine whether its hardware & metaverse division is "the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure":