Microsoft Announces Mixed Reality Event for October 3rd

One day before Google holds its own hardware event, Microsoft just sent invitations to an event on October 3rd in San Francisco, focused on virtual and augmented reality. The event will be hosted by Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman and will highlight how Microsoft sees and plans to address the mixed-reality space in the near future. Microsoft has promoted Xbox chief Phil Spencer to executive vice president of gaming at the company, elevating him to a position on its senior leadership team.

Even Kipman is the fellow who invented the HoloLens “holographic” goggles, the focus of this event will be squarely on the virtual reality features coming to Windows 10 with the Fall Creators Update on October 17. This means no new HoloLens hardware will be announced, so anyone waiting for a cheaper headset will have to keep holding their breath.

The bottom line here is that Microsoft won’t have another major hardware release for the rest of the year. It’s not terribly surprising, as Microsoft has already been very busy in 2017.

Microsoft is pushing ahead of Google

Microsoft’s mixed-reality event will take place just one day before Google’s big autumn release on October 4th, an event where Google will present the next generation of VR and AR optimized Pixel smartphones, ARCore and probably the stand-alone VR glasses that Google is building together with partners such as HTC and Lenovo. The all-round carefree eyewear is expected to come from November and should therefore be in direct competition with the new Microsoft hardware.