Jan 12, 2022 06:00:00

It turns out that about 100 people have left Microsoft's HoloLens development team and more than 40 have joined Meta

Microsoft is developing a head-mounted display '

HoloLens ' that realizes mixed reality (MR) that mixes real space and virtual space, and has a contract to ship it to the enterprise. However, the Wall Street Journal, a daily newspaper, reported that 'about 100 people have left the HoloLens development team in the past year, and more than 40 of them have been hired by Meta , the developer of Oculus.'

Microsoft Hit by Defections as Tech Giants Battle for Talent to Build the Metaverse --WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-hit-by-defections-as-tech-giants-battle-for-talent-to-build-the-metaverse-11641819601

Microsoft AR Team Loses Dozens of Employees to Meta | PCMag
https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsoft-ar-team-loses-dozens-of-employees-to-meta

Microsoft except that has signed a US Army 'HoloLens' 12 million units supply contract, 'the MR platformMicrosoft Mesh like to announce', in recent years, augmented reality (AR) development of also said the technology and its development system MR We are focusing on.

Microsoft signs a contract to supply 120,000 'HoloLens' to the US Army for over 2 trillion yen-GIGAZINE

However, the Wall Street Journal said, 'The LinkedIn profile shows that more than 70 former HoloLens development team employees have left Microsoft in the past year,' with a total of about 100 employees. Members have reportedly left Microsoft's HoloLens development team. In addition, it is known that more than 40 of the former employees who left the company have joined Meta (former Facebook).

Meta is as its name metaverse has been focused on, has invested heavily in order to the metaverse to the company's core business. Former Microsoft employees who joined Meta include Charlie Han, who was responsible for customer feedback for HoloLens, and Josh Miller, who worked for the display team.

A Microsoft spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal that the company has been at the forefront of Metaverse innovation for many years: 'more immersive, affordable, and cutting edge in a variety of farm factors. We will continue to advance our hardware. ' He declined to comment on the details of the HoloLens development team, but said that employee decline is an ongoing challenge facing many teams and Microsoft is striving to retain employees and hire new members. is. Meanwhile, Meta declined to comment on hiring practices such as withdrawal from Micorosft.

Metaverse is said to be a virtual space where people can play, shop, and work, but it has hardly been realized at the time of writing the article. Many high-tech companies are investing heavily in the hardware and software development needed to build the Metaverse, and there is fierce competition for talent. The number of job offers and salary offers for engineers with AR and VR experience has skyrocketed, and according to Indeed, the number of job offers that mentioned 'Metaverse' in December 2021 was more than 10 times that of the previous year.

Matt Stern, Chief Operating Officer of Mira Labs, a startup that supports the adoption of AR technology in the workplace, said Meta has long been a top tech company that draws talent from rivals and small businesses. He pointed out that the scale and speed of growth is remarkable. “Meta has pushed up market prices. It's hard for small businesses to compete,” Stern said.

Meta has announced that it has invested more than $ 10 billion in Metaverse in 2021 alone, hiring more than 10,000 people in Europe to build Metaverse products over the next five years, and more. We have set out a policy to secure human resources. Microsoft isn't the only one affected by Meta's recruitment, but some have left Apple to join Meta, the Wall Street Journal said.

It is reported that Apple is distributing shares of 50,000 dollars (about 5.7 million yen) to 180,000 dollars (about 21 million yen) to some engineers as a bonus to prevent the withdrawal of human resources by Meta etc. ..

Apple provides up to 20 million yen worth of bonus to prevent job change-GIGAZINE

While Meta deploys the Oculus VR headset and boasts a market share of 75%, Microsoft's HoloLens is an expensive enterprise device and ships significantly less than Oculus. However, Microsoft's technology is ahead in the AR field, and Microsoft's human resources are attractive to Meta, who has been working on the development of 'AR smart glasses' in recent years.

by Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Before Microsoft signed a major deal with the U.S. Army in March 2021, some senior executives were considering reducing funding for the HoloLens program, according to Microsoft officials contacted by The Wall Street Journal. is. Another former Microsoft employee pointed out that the company did not hire enough engineers to handle the additional work and questioned its commitment to AR / MR development. Dissatisfaction with these companies reported that Microsoft employees may have been more likely to accept offers from competitors.