Magic Leap Cuts Nearly 200 Jobs as AR Pioneer Pivots Into Waveguide Supplier

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AR unicorn Magic Leap is again pivoting its core business, this time to serve as a waveguide supplier to other companies making AR glasses, something that we’ve learned comes amid a mass lay off nearly 200 of its core engineering and product development staff.

According to a formal WARN Act notification letter to US government officials last week, the company is set to lay off 193 employees at the company’s Plantation, Florida headquarters.

A wide range of product development and engineering roles are set to be affected come October 1st, the letter reveals, including software, hardware, UX/design, product management, manufacturing engineering, quality, technical program management, and several senior engineering and executive leadership positions.

Although it’s uncertain how many will remain at Magic Leap—estimates point to a few hundred at this point—the mass layoff comes amid a broader shift at Magic Leap, as the company announced earlier this month its was undergoing a “strategic pivot to accelerate the development of AI display glasses.”

The company says it’s now shifting from building first-party AR headsets to taking on the role of “essential AR ecosystems partner, waveguide supplier, and device integration expert for the technology industry.”

“Magic Leap is seizing the moment where our AR innovation and manufacturing expertise create the greatest market impact,” said Scott Carden, SVP of display engineering and manufacturing at Magic Leap. “We’re solving the toughest challenges of scaling waveguide production, from industry-leading waveguide performance to manufacturing and full-device integration. Now, we’re using our unmatched expertise to help partners bring AI display glasses to millions of consumers in the fastest way possible through our waveguide technology.”

Founded in 2010 by Rony Abovitz, Magic Leap is arguably the most well-funded AR startups to date, having massed well over $4 billion in funding from investors including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, a majority holder at over $1 billion invested, as well as Google, Alibaba, and Qualcomm.

Despite an enviable runway, the company’s first AR headset didn’t exactly live up to the hype. Released in 2018, Magic Leap 1 awkwardly straddled the consumer and enterprise segment at the (then unthinkable) price of $2,300, essentially forcing the company to pivot and drop its consumer ambitions a short two years later. That first pivot away from consumer also marked the departure of CEO and co-founder Rony Abovitz, with its follow-up device Magic Leap 2 released in late 2020 solely targeted at enterprise.

And while Magic Leap has only just announced its waveguide optics pivot, in reality the company was making moves away from first-party devices as early as July 2024, according to a Bloomberg report, which characterized the action as a last ditch effort to make use of the company’s AR optics tech.

Meanwhile, we’ve heard substantially nothing about development of first-party devices, as over the past two years the company has only announced a hardware partnership with Google and manufacturing partnership with Taiwan’s Pegatron, both of which center around licensing and manufacturing waveguides.

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Valve Drops Big SteamVR Update Ahead of Steam Frame Launch

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Valve has dropped a sizeable update to SteamVR, paving the way for what appears to be imminent launch of its long-awaited standalone VR headset, Steam Frame.

Valve’s latest update brings a good slate of standard Steam features to SteamVR. And with it, the VR runtime is ostensibly shaping up to offer a more VR-native user experience, in part thanks to its new UI for SteamVR’s Dashboard.

According to the update’s patch notes, users who opt-in to the Steam Client Beta will essentially have a more useful Dashboard, as it brings Steam Deck-style Quick Access controls, as well as easier access to things like achievements, guides, and notes.

Valve says the update also improves usability with easier overlay management, better battery information, and brightness controls.

Courtesy Valve

For those of us waiting for years, the latest SteamVR update suggests we really are finally rounding the bend, as Valve has not only obviously imported tons of Steam Frame headsets into the US in preparation for release, but is now tightening SteamVR’s long-neglected UI for something seemingly ready for prime time.

What’s more, Valve recently released a ‘Great on Frame’ page that highlights a growing list of optimized VR and non-VR games that are guaranteed to work on Steam Frame.

Still, the top two bits of information are missing: price and exact release date. Provided Steam Machine is any indication, which launched at a much higher-than-expected $1,050 last month, it’s likely Steam Frame will be similarly inflated—all of it due to the global RAM and storage crisis going on currently.

Looking for more Steam Frame news?

Valve Unveils Steam Frame VR headset to Make Your Entire Steam Library Portable: Valve shows off Steam Frame, the standalone headset that can stream and natively play your entire Steam library—with only a few caveats right now.

Hands-on: Steam Frame Reveals Valve’s Modern Vision for VR and Growing Hardware Ambitions: We go hands-on with Valve’s latest and greatest VR headset yet.

Valve Says No New First-party VR Game is in Development: Valve launched Half-Life: Alyx (2020) a few months after releasing Index, but no such luck for first-party content on Steam Frame.

Valve is Open to Bringing SteamOS to Third-party VR Headsets: Steam Frame is the first VR headset to run SteamOS, but it may not be the last.

Valve Plans to Offer Steam Frame Dev Kits to VR Developers: Steam Frame isn’t here yet; Valve says it needs more time with developers first so they can optimize their PC VR games.

Valve Announces SteamOS Console and New Steam Controller, Designed with Steam Frame Headset in Mind: Find out why Valve’s new SteamOS-running Console and controller will work seamlessly with Steam Frame.

Steam Frame vs. Quest 3 Specs: Better Streaming, Power & Hackability: Quest 3 can do a lot, but can it go toe-to-toe with Steam Frame?

Steam Frame vs. Valve Index Specs: Wireless VR Gameplay That’s Generations Ahead : Valve Index used to be the go-to PC VR headset, but the times have changed.

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EssilorLuxottica Acquires French XR Startup Lynx, Putting R2 Headset Release in Doubt

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Lynx, the France-based XR hardware startup, has been acquired by global eyewear conglomerate EssilorLuxottica.

In a public email to backers, Lynx founder and CEO Stan Larroque confirmed the acquisition, which was rumored to have taken place two weeks ago.

This includes “[a]ll the IP, assets and most of the team is now transitioning from a startup to this big company,” Larroque says in the email, adding that “it might take a few months for the operations to be smooth again, pending all legal approvals.”

Larroque isn’t making the move to EssilorLuxottica alongside other staff however, concluding his eight years building the startup, as he reveals he’s moving to Paris-based drone company Parrot to take on “a key leadership role” alongside Parrot founder and CEO Henri Seydoux.

Lynx-R2 | Courtesy Lynx

Larroque further confirmed with Road to VR that the deal is “a formal acquisition, meaning they get everything, the name, the domain, the databases, code, 3D files, manufacturing know-how, etc. And most of the team is already employed now at EssilorLuxottica.”

There’s no word on what will actually happen to Lynx-R2 though, the company’s still-unreleased mixed reality standalone announced earlier this year. Given EssilorLuxottica’s close partnership with Meta vis-à-vis Ray-Ban and Oakley Meta smart glasses, the company’s Quest competitor may have little future under its new owner.

While financial details of the acquisition are still under wraps, it seemingly couldn’t have come at a better time. In March, Lynx parent company SL Process entered judicial liquidation proceedings following a ruling by the Economic Activities Court of Nanterre, France, which essentially meant restructuring efforts had failed and survival was no longer viable, as assets and IP are typically sold off to cover debts.

Founded in 2019 after raising an initial $2 million seed round, the Paris-based startup made a splash with a 2021 Kickstarter campaign for its first-gen R1 standalone headset, raising more than $800,000 from backers. In 2022, Lynx garnered a $4 million Series A round led by social VR platform developer Somnium Space.

Still, for a hardware company, a little over $6 million is nothing more than a shoestring budget, something Larroque often lamented about online, calling the fundraising environment in Europe “excruciating.”

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EU Moves to Exempt Smart Glasses from Repairability Rules, Privacy Questions Remain

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Although smart phones will soon require user-removable batteries in the EU, the European Commission is moving to exempt wearables, which includes smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart glasses.

As reported by Politico, a so-called “legislative tweak” has cleared the way for US-based companies like Meta to keep the EU market in sight.

In a statement, a European Commission spokesperson maintained it “has not given in to anyone’s pressure,” as its proposals “follow a broad public consultation with consumer associations, industry stakeholders and the Member States.”

According to the spokesperson, the exemption “is not about regulating one specific product” but “to ensure safer consumer and industrial products in cases where opening a device could create safety risks or where technical limits make consumer access unrealistic.”

That said, the European Parliament and individual governments have a two-month period to object to the tweak before it’s entered into the Official Journal of the EU. Once entered, it’s only a 20 day wait until the bill is in force, putting official legislation in play possibly sometime in late November or early December.

While that’s cleared the way for companies like Meta, Google, Samsung and Apple to release smart glasses in the EU (and likely also AR glasses) materially unchanged, European regulators and lawmakers are increasingly discussing smart glasses’ role in data privacy and surveillance.

Politico notes the European Data Protection Board, which gathers privacy regulators across Europe, has ordered a report into smart glasses, likely to be finalized this summer. From there, EU lawmakers will assess actions.

“Europe should not dilute consumer protections. Smart glasses are already raising important concerns about privacy, security and consumer choice. Exemptions from EU battery removability rules should remain exactly that: genuine exceptions based on clear technical and safety evidence, not industry pressure. Exempting these devices … risks setting a dangerous precedent,” said Cláudio Texeira, head of digital policy at Europe’s largest consumer protection group BEUC.

This follows Meta’s recent class action lawsuit in the US over privacy concerns tied to its Ray-Ban smart glasses, wherein the company is accused of sending private camera footage to a Kenya-based subcontractor for manual review to train its AI models.

Allegations stem from an investigative report from Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten, which is said to have uncovered a subcontractor in Kenya tasked with reviewing and labeling images and videos uploaded from the glasses.

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Anduril Founder Quietly Teases Remarkably Compact AR Glasses

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Palmer Luckey, the founder of military tech startup Anduril (also the founder of Oculus), quietly teased a pair of unannounced AR glasses that are presumably in development at Anduril. Despite their incredibly compact appearance, Luckey says they are not merely smart glasses, but are indeed built for full AR capability.

Just days after Snap Inc revealed its latest Specs standalone AR glasses, a photo shared on X showed Anduril founder Palmer Luckey wearing what appeared to be some kind of clip-on attachment to his sunglasses. The caption of the photo, shared by Lulu Cheng Meservey, included the quote “Other AR glasses getting literally frame mogged.” This ostensibly referred to Snap’s Specs glasses, which drew significant commentary about whether their design was too bulky to be socially acceptable.

Courtesy Lulu Cheng Meservey

Regardless of where one stands on the size of Specs, the glasses shown in the photo of Luckey appear incredibly compact by comparison. This prompted Road to VR founder Ben Lang to question whether it was actually a fair comparison to make; Lang pointed out that surprisingly compact smart glasses—like the Even Realities G2—are already available on the market today, but they remain compact because they lack the full hardware stack required for true AR glasses.

Luckey responded directly to Lang’s scepticism, saying “[…] these are the real deal! No shortcuts, just really good tech in conjunction with deeply invested partners like Qualcomm, Meta Quest, and [Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, CTO at Meta].”

When asked by Lang if the device pictured is capable of true AR, Luckey added, “correct, [the glasses have] wide-FOV full-color stereo.”

Luckey’s confirmation that the device is capable of proper AR is indeed surprising considering the size. Significant questions, however, remain. Chief among them is whether the device is fully standalone or if it relies on a tethered puck (which would serve to offload battery and/or compute), allowing the device to be much smaller than a pair of standalone AR glasses like Specs.

Given the incredibly compact size of the glasses, a tethered architecture seems like the only possible explanation. However, neither the original photo published by Meservey, nor a follow-up photo published by Luckey, show any clear signs of a tether:

Courtesy Palmer Luckey

Another major question is whether the device is made as a modular add-on to existing off the shelf glasses. The design of the hardware suggests this as a significant possibility (indeed, the glasses pictured look like a regular pair of Ray-Ban Aviators). But making a simple modular add-on to existing glasses introduces significant complexities for the calibration of optics, displays, and tracking hardware.

Courtesy Palmer Luckey

Far more is unknown about this device than is known at this stage. But there’s reason to believe it’s legitimate, and possibly connected to Anduril’s EagleEye project, which aims to build an augmented reality helmet to bring superhuman perception to soldiers on the battlefield. In 2025, Anduril announced it had partnered with Meta on XR technology for the military, which aligns with Luckey’s statement that the pictured glasses were thanks, in part, to “deeply invested partners [like Meta].”

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Lenovo Reportedly Shutters US-based XR Business Unit Amid Shift to AI Wearables

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Lenovo has reportedly closed its XR business unit in the US, according to a report by Skarred Ghost.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report maintains Lenovo has shuttered its business-oriented XR unit in the US. As per the report, most of the affected employees were let go, while a minority have been offered other positions within the company.

It’s uncertain how many have been affected. Lenovo has however confirmed, at least in partial, that the company is taking its XR efforts in a new direction:

“As the XR market evolves, we see stronger momentum and broader consumer adoption around AI-enabled wearables. As a result, Lenovo is transitioning from a business-first XR strategy under our ThinkReality brand to a more consumer-focused approach within Motorola,” Lenovo says in a statement obtained by Skarred Ghost.

The company says it’s creating a “more centralized organization” which will focus on AI-powered consumer wearables and delivering what it calls a “unified Personal AI experience across multiple devices — from AI PCs and tablets to smartphones and wearables.”

While not a core XR leader, Lenovo has produced a number of VR and AR headsets over the years, starting with the launch of its Windows Mixed Reality headset in 2016, which was released alongside other top OEMs, such as HP, Samsung, Dell, and Acer.

The company also released the Mirage Solo VR standalone in 2018, manufactured the Rift S for Meta (then Oculus) in 2019, a Lenovo Classroom 2 VR headset built in partnership with Pico in 2020, and its ThinkReality A3 AR glasses for enterprise in 2021.

Lenovo’s most recent XR headset, released in 2023, was its ThinkReality VRX mixed reality device, one of the first enterprise-oriented headsets to adopt pancake-style optics. Additionally, the company released its second-gen Lenovo Legion tethered display glasses in 2025.

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‘Ghosts of Tabor’ Returns to Its Roots in 2024-era ‘Legacy’ Edition This Month

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Combat Waffle announced it’s taking popular extraction shooter Ghosts of Tabor back to its 2024 roots with a separate version of the game, called Ghosts of Tabor: LEGACY.

Ghosts of Tabor: Legacy is essentially set to be the 2024 version of the game, before the studio pushed a number of major content updates, some of which drew community ire.

Combat Waffle says it’s reintroducing the game “preserved for the players who were there for it. The maps you mastered. The feel you remember. This is your raid, the way it used to feel.”

This includes a host of legacy stuff, such as maps in their original form: Old Island, Hex Bunker, Silo, and Matka Miest, as well as UX in its original state, such as backpacks with item collision, the older damage system, and more.

As it is, the studio says it won’t be pushing any content updates to the “time capsule” version, only bug fixes as needed.

After 2024, Ghosts of Tabor received a number of major updates, including a new mission system, PvE mode, maps, weapons, and some quality-of-life improvements.

Complaints have centered some on balance issues, although the biggest offender has been ongoing bugs, including things like clipping through the environment or disappearing, which can cause players to lose valuable gear after a raid (to name a few).

Still, despite vocal community feedback, the game has managed to move up the charts as one of the top 50 best-selling Quest games of all time.

Ghosts of Tabor: Legacy is now available for pre-order on Steam and the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, currently priced at $10, or 33% off its $15 launch price.

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