AltspaceVR

AltspaceVR was an early social-virtual-reality platform founded in 2013 by Eric Romo, Gavan Wilhite and David Gudmundson. Initially incubated under the Qualia3D moniker, it launched publicly in May 2015 with cross-platform virtual environments where people could meet through expressive avatars, spatial audio and interactive web content.

The platform supported Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear VR and standard 2D PCs, bringing live and community-led experiences to virtual worlds. Its capabilities included social VR, multi-user communications, avatar systems, spatial audio, cross-platform VR events, WebVR and 2D content streaming in VR, and mixed-reality software development.

Platform and events

AltspaceVR combined social networking with tools for live programming, virtual-event production, remote collaboration and user-created worlds. Under Microsoft, the platform added Unity SDK integrations for world building and supported enterprise events and educational summits.

Its notable activity included NBC News’ 2016 presidential-election VR coverage, live comedy experiences with Reggie Watts and Drew Carey, Bill Nye science discussions, virtual comedy venues, community meetups and the Educators in VR conference. The service also hosted the Circular Fashion Summit 2020.

Microsoft era and closure

After an attempted shutdown in July 2017 following difficulties securing Series B funding, AltspaceVR was acquired by Microsoft Corporation in October 2017. The team became part of Microsoft’s Cloud + AI and Mixed Reality work in Redmond, where its social-VR technology informed Microsoft Mesh.

Microsoft announced the platform’s retirement in January 2023 and completed the shutdown on March 10, 2023. AltspaceVR is closed, and its former website redirects to Microsoft. A separate 2026 Altspace-branded revival effort by SideQuest VR Ltd. is independent of the historical AltspaceVR operating company.