A job listing for a Senior Design Manager position on Microsoft’s “Xbox Mixed Reality team” says that the company is “looking to build a massively social gaming and entertainment experience for both the PC and the console.”
Starting with the HoloLens AR headset and moving toward Windows VR headsets coming soon from PC hardware makers, Microsoft has been laying the groundwork for a broad AR/VR play (which the company collectively calls “Mixed Reality”) over the last few years. This week at Microsoft’s annual Build conference we saw more about how the company is making Mixed Reality part of Windows, and how they plan to allow AR and VR devices to work together seamlessly on the platform.
We’ve known since E3 2016 that the company also has plans to make VR part of its next-generation Xbox, “Project Scorpio,” but until now there hasn’t been an indication that Windows VR and Xbox VR would come into contact with one another.
Spotted by Twitter user WalkingCat, a new job listing from the company, specifically for the Xbox Mixed Reality team, indicates that Microsoft is developing a “massively social gaming and entertainment experience for both the PC and the console,” ostensibly one that would offer cross-play between AR/VR devices on PC and Xbox.
The job listing is looking for a highly experienced Senior Design Manager:
Do you love MMOs? Are you excited about Virtual Reality? Would you like every Xbox user to experience your design every time they use it? We are embarking on a bold charter and need your help us take the next step. The Xbox Mixed Reality team is looking for an experienced senior design manager with deep expertise and passion around crafting immersive social systems and experiences. We’re looking to build a massively social gaming and entertainment experience for both the PC and the console. Here is an opportunity to join a fun and collaborative team that experiments with the latest toys, works with state of the art tech, and crafts the future of entertainment.
Under ‘Skills and Experience’, the company says they’re looking for someone who has “Shipped at least 3 AAA consumer entertainment products” and has 7+ years using design tools; bonus points if they’ve got experience in “NUI, VR, AR, game design, art direction, and video storytelling.”
Though we’re conjuring images of a World of Warcraft-like world, a VR “MMO”—which stands for Massively Multiplayer Online—could mean a lot of different things, all the way from the fantasy RPG stylings of Guild Wars, to a community/social-focused experience like Second Life.
It isn’t clear exactly what form this project from Microsoft might take; it’s a long shot, but we could hear about the project from Microsoft at E3 next month, as the company recently teased they’d be talking more about their Mixed Reality content lineup at the event. Though given how early it is, we won’t be holding our breath just yet.
