It was back in 2014 that Linden Lab released virtual reality (VR) support for its popular online experience Second Life. This month though the studio revealed that support has been dropped because the experience: “didn’t meet our standards for quality.”
In a forum posting a Linden Lab community manager posted: “Thank you for experimenting with our Oculus Rift Project Viewer and offering your feedback. Unfortunately, the Project Viewer that we recently made available didn’t meet our standards for quality, and so we’ve now removed it from the Alternate Viewers page.
“By definition, Project Viewers aren’t ready for primetime. The purpose of these experimental Viewers is to share with you the earliest possible version of what we’re working on, so that you can see what we’re up to, help discover problems, and provide feedback. In this case, though, we’re not ready for that, as those of you who tried it have seen. We can’t say at this point when or even if we may release another Project Viewer for experimenting with the Oculus Rift in SL.”
But this isn’t all bad news because Linden Lab has been working on a dedicated VR experience called Project Sansar. Revealed last year the purpose of Project Sansar is the ability to easily create, share and monetize VR experiences. The studio is currently in the process of accepting applications from content creators – professional or hobbyist – for a ‘Creator Preview’.
Other details on the project are currently scarce, but Linden Lab has said the project will support head-mounted displays (HMDs) like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, with desktop and mobile device support also planned.
As further details are announced by Linden Lab, VRFocus will bring you the latest details.
