Microsoft retires Mesh app, launches ‘immersive spaces’ for Teams

Microsoft has retired its Mesh 3D collaboration platform as it continues to scale back its metaverse ambitions in the workplace. 

The company unveiled Mesh during the Covid-19 pandemic amid widespread interest in the potential of virtual reality and immersive environments for workplace collaboration. Mesh was available as a Unity-based platform for creating 3D environments and as an app where colleagues could meet in immersive spaces. 

Widespread demand failed to ignite however, and Microsoft announced on Monday that Mesh had been retired as a standalone app. That means users can longer attend events or Teams meetings from the Mesh app on PCs or Meta’s Quest virtual reality headsets. The mesh.cloud.microsoft website will also be shut down.

It’s the latest sign Microsoft is backing away from metaverse-related tools, having ceased production of its HoloLens mixed reality headsets last year. That’s despite some successes, such as a reported $22 billion deal to provide headsets to the US Army.

On Monday, Microsoft also announced changes to the Mesh-based 3D immersive experiences that it’s been building into its Teams collaboration application. The “Immersive spaces (3D)” view in Teams — which enabled smaller groups of colleagues to meet and interact as virtual avatars — has been removed from the application, the company said. 

Instead, Teams users can now host and attend “immersive events in Teams” that are aimed at large virtual gatherings such as training sessions, virtual exhibitions, and product showcases. These are scheduled from the Outlook or Teams calendar. Prebuilt environments can be customized with company branding and 3D models uploaded for attendees to interact with. 

These immersive events are available on PC, Mac, and Meta Quest devices. A Teams Premium subscription or “qualifying commercial Teams license” is required to host these immersive events, though co-organizers and attendees require only a standard Teams license. 

While the metaverse concept failed to take off, there’s still business interest in some quarters around the potential for virtual environments to enhance remote collaboration. 

The latest Microsoft moves sense, as it lets businesses host virtual events directly within Teams rather than through a separate app, said Irwin Lazar, president and principal analyst at Metrigy. However, he sees only limited demand for virtual collaboration environments going forward. 

Metrigy’s research indicates a “slow but steady” growth in the adoption of virtual and augmented reality, with 16.5% of the roughly 400 companies surveyed in late 2024 planning to invest in the technologies by the end of this year. 

“Use cases tend to be very targeted around training, product demonstrations, engineering and design, and customer engagement rather than for general purpose meetings,” said Lazar.  “We expect to see slow continued growth, but I don’t see these kinds of virtual reality tools being more than a niche market going forward.”Microsoft retires Mesh app, launches ‘immersive spaces’ for Teams – ComputerworldRead More