Microsoft has joined the race to build a metaverse, which came six days after Facebook rebranded to Meta as it shifts its focus to the metaverse.

Detail:

Unveiled at the Ignite conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft’s Teams chat and conferencing program that features digital avatars, is updating and in testing now and it will be released in the first half of next year.

Dubbed Mesh, the new Teams features will allow remote workers to create metaverse where they can meet, talk, present and view PowerPoint presentation in the immersive space. 

Apart from the Teams, Microsoft said it would integrate its other productivity software into its new virtual experiences. According to Nadella, the company’s gaming device- Xbox will also add metaverse elements into its gaming lines.

Jared Spataro, the head of Microsoft Teams, said much of the motivation for the introduction of metaverse came from the challenges with the pandemic, as some employee go to the office after the pandemic while others decided to work remotely.

Microsoft’s plan to develop metaverse are modest compared to Facebook which seems to go in metaverse after changing its corporate name to Meta last week  

Microsoft and Facebook are not the only mainstream giants which recently laid out metaverse plan, sportwear giant Nike had submitted applications for trademarks of its iconic logo and slogan for use in “online virtual worlds.” The firm has also posted two recent job listings for virtual material designer.