At the Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Microsoft announced today that it will begin shipping mixed reality development kits this month. The announcement follows the one from October, where the company showed off a series of third-party virtual reality head-mounted displays (HMDs).
The Mixed Reality Development Edition headset will be made by Acer, and will have the following specifications:
Two high-resolution liquid crystal displays at 1440 x 1440
Display refresh rate up to 90 Hz (native)
Built-in audio out and microphone support through 3.5mm jack
Single cable with HDMI 2.0 (display) and USB 3.0 (data) for connectivity
But that wasn"t the only announcement that the firm made today. It also confirmed that "the Xbox One family of devices, including Project Scorpio" will get mixed reality support beginning in 2018. To be clear, Microsoft has already said that Scorpio will launch by this holiday season, so it seems that the console won"t have this ability at launch.
Interestingly, the statement does seem to imply that mixed reality support will also be coming to other Xbox One devices, such as the One and the One S. We"ve reached out to Microsoft to confirm that both of the older consoles will receive the feature, and we"ll keep you update when we hear something.
As for the Acer-made HMD, Microsoft says that it will be a phased rollout to developers, and didn"t go into any further detail to describe how it will decide which developers get to purchase one and when.
Update: Microsoft has confirmed to Neowin that both the Xbox One and the Xbox One S will receive mixed reality support.