As seen by the purchase of Active Replica, Mozilla appears to be investing heavily in its aspirations for the Metaverse.
Mozilla has been taking some fascinating steps over the past several weeks. The business recently purchased both the Canadian startup Active Replica as well as the folks behind an automated Slack updater.
The purchase of Active Replica is a crucial step for Mozilla in its efforts to forward the Hubs team’s work and develop a “web-based Metaverse” over the coming several years. Examining Active Replica will help us understand how Mozilla’s Metaverse project will advance.
Who Is Behind Active Replica and What Is It?
In 2020, Active Replica was founded by Jacob Ervin and Valerian Denis. Denis and Ervin both have a lot of expertise in project management and software engineering, respectively.
The two have worked for startups in the AR/VR space such as BlackLight, Occipital, and Liminal AR. Their initial objective was to develop a 3D web platform that would let users design virtual venues for gathering and project collaboration.
The founders had obtained outside money for their firm before Mozilla purchased it from them from companies like Samsung NEXT Ventures, NoFate Capital, and Big Alpha Ventures, among others.
Exactly why is the acquisition so crucial?
The effect of this acquisition for the Mozilla Hubs team cannot be overestimated; because to the increased funding provided by the former Active Replica founders, Mozilla will be able to create new Metaverse platform capabilities much more quickly.
They will be able to give users improved Hub experiences that would not be possible otherwise thanks to this.
For instance, allowing several users to edit objects in a single shared space simultaneously is one potential feature that is being investigated. That is now conceivable because this acquisition has added resources, which were previously unavailable due to resource limitations.
The Team of Mozilla Hubs
The Hubs team was first envisioned as an experimental project for developing online immersive virtual social spaces when it was first introduced four years ago. It started out as a simple experiment but has since developed into a full-fledged project with a dedicated staff of engineers and developers.
The team is now concentrating on transforming Hubs into a platform for developing a Metaverse where individuals can interact and collaborate to create virtual worlds.
The group recently grew with the introduction of account management, privacy protection, and security-improving features in a subscription-based service. The service currently costs $20 per month. Mozilla, however, intends to release additional tears, one of which will be free.
What Are Mozilla’s Plans for the Metaverse?
Ervin and Denis have taken up new positions at Mozilla as a senior engineering manager and product lead once the transaction was finalized. The team should benefit from the two Canadian AR/VR professionals’ assistance in growing and revitalizing Hubs.
Mozilla’s journey into the Metaverse has so far yielded a mixed bag of outcomes. Although the Hubs platform is still active, Firefox Reality was shut down by the browser manufacturer early this year.
Firefox Reality was intended to be a browser for VR headsets, but neither users nor developers were interested in it. Mozilla, however, is still active and contributes to the advancement of cutting-edge technologies like WebVR and WebAR.
Future Plans for Mozilla Hubs
Although the open-source project Hubs is still in its infancy, Mozilla is well-positioned to advance it thanks to the purchase of Active Replica.
In the following few years, the mixed-reality platform should be prepared for a wide-scale rollout, enabling people to explore and create virtual worlds together.
Hubs’ usage may increase in the next years as a result of the introduction of new VR headsets like the Oculus Go and Meta Quest 3, making it one of the more well-liked platforms for people interested in experiencing virtual reality.