Elon Musk: "The TruthGPT is out there."👽🛸

This week...Valve is still in the VR game, Horizon Worlds opens to teens whereas the UK is banning their children from accessing the Metaverse.

Good morning Metaverse Business Brief readers. Let’s jump into the most relevant news from the immersive world in our weekly roundup.

Top Stories

Valve is still in the VR game. A Valve product designer, Greg Coomer, spoke to a Korean gaming publication in December and said that Valve has a lot of expertise in VR devices and has faith in the medium and VR games. While adhering to the belief that VR games should remain open on PC platforms, the company is continuing development.

Meta has opened Horizon Worlds to teenage users. Available to teens in the US and Canada, Meta will be introducing a set of age-appropriate protections and safety defaults. Meta has invested in new safety features, including back-end protections and parental supervision tools, allowing parents and teens to manage the experience before making Worlds available to this age group.

Apple's VR/AR headset will run iPad apps. This will allow users to access "millions" of already-available apps on the App Store. The device's interface will reportedly resemble that of the iPad, and will feature headset versions of FaceTime and Apple TV, as well as many of the core apps that users might already be familiar with from the iPhone.

Meta’s round two of mass layoffs. Meta overall have conducted its second round of mass layoffs within six months, ahead of another set planned for May. The cuts, which could be around 4,000 jobs, have caused concern among remaining employees, who will hear from CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a company Q&A on Thursday. Layoffs started on Wednesday, affecting Facebook, Instagram, Reality Labs, and WhatsApp, according to an internal memo.

In Funding

Vinci Games has raised $5.1 million in a seed funding round, led by Makers Fund, to develop its VR basketball game Blacktop Hoops. The funds will be used to enhance the game's features, which includes online multiplayer modes and new DLCs. Blacktop Hoops was released in April 2022 and has received positive reviews on both App Lab and Steam.

VR app for children’s surgery receives $3.1M. London-based startup ‘Little Journey’ has raised $3.1 million in funding led by Octopus Ventures to develop its VR app that aims to reduce anxiety and stress in children before healthcare procedures. The app prepares children and their families for the procedure, ultimately improving outcomes and adherence while speeding up recovery.

PUBG Owner $37M Investment in Metaverse Startup. Krafton, the South Korean game developer of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), has partnered with Naver Z to launch a new metaverse platform called "Migaloo". The platform will allow content creators to earn money through non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The companies have invested $36.8 million in the venture, which will be based in North America, and the platform is expected to launch later this year.

SenseGlove has raised $3.5 million in series A funding. A Netherlands-based company that creates XR haptic gloves, has raised $3.5 million in a series A funding round led by Lumaux. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of SenseGlove Nova haptic gloves and to expand the company's product range, as well as opening an office in the US.

Keep an eye on

Musk’s “TruthGPT” to rival ChatGPT. Elon Musk has announced plans to launch a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform called "TruthGPT" to compete with the offerings of Microsoft and Google. He criticised Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the firm behind ChatGPT, accusing it of "training the AI to lie" and saying it has become a "closed source", "for-profit" organisation "closely allied with Microsoft".

UK’s Online safety bill to ban children from the Metaverse. The upcoming Online Safety Bill in the UK will include stricter age verification tools to ban children from parts of the Metaverse, following warnings from the National Crime Agency about increasing exploitation of children in online spaces. The bill will cover all online services where users can interact, including virtual reality apps on the Metaverse.

Nestle Cereals enters the Metaverse. Nestle Cereals has become the first breakfast cereal business to enter the metaverse with the launch of the Nestle Cereals Metaclub. The metaverse experience includes 10 virtual attractions that offer sustainability-themed challenges, NFTs with real-life rewards, and a digital Anghami lounge with specially curated playlists and free subscriptions.

The Metaverse Standards Forum turns to non-profit consortium. The Metaverse Standards Forum becomes an independent non-profit industry consortium after nine months of incubation by the Khronos Group. Its mission remains unchanged to foster cooperation and coordination over metaverse-related interoperability between standards organizations, companies, and universities.

Events to be at

• April 24 6 PM BST Online | The 7th International VR Awards Nominations Open

• May 09 Online | Insights Live: Human Progress and the Programmable World

• May 17 - 18 London | Edtech World Forum 2023

• June 13 Online | Insights Live: Metaverse vs Web3: A Convergence?

• July11 Online | Insights Live: The Importance of Inclusivity and Diversity within the Metaverse

• November 30 Rotterdam | The 7th International VR Awards

>>> View the full directory

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Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news and comments to team@aixr.org.

April 24 2023 Edition - Issue 15