Google Acquires Some Of HTC Vive’s Engineering Team

Google is acquiring “some of” HTC Vive’s engineering team to “accelerate the development of the Android XR platform”.

The two companies aren’t saying how many engineers the deal involves, nor whether it involves software engineering or hardware engineering, but here’s what Google is saying about the deal for now:

“They are an incredibly strong technical team with a proven track record in the VR space, and we are looking forward to working with them to accelerate the development of the Android XR platform across the headsets and glasses ecosystem.”

As an interesting parallel: in late 2017 Google acquired some of HTC’s mobile devices engineering team, and leveraged these engineers to vastly improve the hardware of its Pixel phones.

The new move comes just over one month after Google announced Android XR, its standalone XR operating system and platform, as Samsung revealed the first headset to run it.

While Samsung’s headset will be the first device to run Google’s latest OS, Sony, Lynx, and Xreal are building Android XR devices too, and other companies including Play For Dream say they want to use it in the future.

Sony, Lynx, And Xreal Are Building Android XR Devices Too

While Samsung’s headset will be the first, Sony, Lynx, and Xreal are building Android XR devices too.

Of course, Android XR is not alone in the market. Meta wants hardware makers to adopt its Horizon OS platform, which its Quest headsets run, instead. ASUS and Lenovo are the first companies confirmed to be building Horizon OS headsets, but we have yet to see a reveal from either.

Google’s strength is that Android XR headsets will include “most” of its Play Store of flatscreen tablet and phone apps, as well as its cross-platform services like Chrome, Google Maps, and Google Photos, already used by a huge percentage of smartphone and PC owners on the planet.

Without subsidized hardware though, and seemingly without tracked controllers in the box, Android XR might struggle to attract many of the developers of the immersive gaming library on Horizon OS. And beyond Owlchemy Labs, which makes relatively casual games, Google hasn’t acquired gaming studios to build AAA VR exclusives like Meta’s Batman: Arkham Shadow and Asgard’s Wrath 2. Worse, Google’s most recent attempt at working with game developers, Stadia, spectacularly failed.

Still, Android XR could carve out a space in the market as a relatively open competitor to Apple’s visionOS, primarily focused on virtual screens and integrations with existing apps and services, rather than a direct competition to everything Meta is doing with its Quest headsets. And HTC’s experience in the space may help Google accelerate its plans and strengthen its competition against Meta.