How is it possible that a company receives more than $500 million in funding and the tech world knows little to nothing about it? We suppose there are very good reasons for Magic Leap to move so stealthily. After all, the first company to present a convincing augmented reality product has the potential to take an entire market. Recently, Magic Leap published a concept of its system. Will it be enough to excite consumers?
The Virtual Reality Landscape
Although we always try to adopt an optimistic stance toward developments like virtual reality and augmented reality, the truth is that companies don't leave us much room. On the virtual reality side, all the enthusiasm seems focused on the HTC Vive and SteamVR for a simple reason: there is a release date. There are still many pages left on the calendar, but "end of 2015" is solid data. On the other hand, Project Morpheus points to "the first half of 2016", and with Oculus Rift we are about to lose patience. The latest round of "no statements" from its leaders suggests there will be no commercial version of the headset in 2015. They mentioned changes in the development roadmap and an "expansion" of their ambitions, but they remain as allergic as ever to dates. In the augmented reality territory, the situation seems even more complicated. Microsoft stirred the hornet's nest with HoloLens, but if we take as reference the way they have transmitted the latest info about Windows 10, we should not expect much. And now we come across Magic Leap.
Magic Leap's Concept Video
I have already played the video four times, and I still doubt whether its content represents the current state of the augmented reality system that Magic Leap is developing, or if it is an exaggerated vision. When a player takes the trouble to fake the recoil of a weapon, usually two things happen: either they are enjoying it too much, or they are trying to sell something that is not really there. Both the applications and the game are concepts, but several sources indicate that the visual quality in the session is real. Even so, those privileged who had the chance to try Magic Leap described a huge hardware platform, to the point that it needs to be placed on a cart. Needless to say, Magic Leap is far from reaching an adequate miniaturization phase.
We must also add two worrying details. First, Magic Leap's CEO Rony Abovitz canceled his TED talk scheduled for last Wednesday, and second, Graeme Devine, the mastermind behind titles like The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, who joined the company last year, had to cancel his "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit, which was scheduled for last Tuesday. The video clearly indicates that Magic Leap is not vaporware, and that they continue their work. But more than one has wondered if we are not facing a mild case of overselling. Perhaps the best thing for Magic Leap is to return to the shadows, and when they have a public demo ready, we will be there to see it with great pleasure.
