(Credit: Shutterstock / JeanLucIchard)
Microsoft plans to remove Windows Mixed Reality from its operating system.
The deprecation includes the Mixed Reality Portal app as well as Windows Mixed Reality for Steam VR. Microsoft didn't say when this will happen, only that it will remove Windows Mixed Reality "in a future release of Windows."
Windows Mixed Reality is Microsoft’s VR ecosystem for Windows PCs. Dating back to 2015, it never really took off and has been inactive for several years, Windows Central notes.
Windows Mixed Reality made its way into several headsets between 2017 and 2021. Versions from Acer and HP received 3/5 average scores from PCMag, thanks to "awkward quirks" and lackluster content on the platform. The headsets largely dropped off after that, in part due to the success of Steam VR, which offers a more robust game library, among other features.
The HoloLens 2 is currently Microsoft’s only “Windows Mixed Reality” device on the market. A HoloLens 3 was expected to be released in 2021 but got canceled in early 2022. At the time, Microsoft employees suggested there was some uncertainty over the future of the device, though the leader of the division, Alex Kipman, tweeted that “HoloLens is doing great.” In the end, it seems like that might not have been the case.