Microsoft’s AR headset, HoloLens, won’t initially be for gaming, CEO Satya Nadella has explained. While Minecraft has featured prominently in demonstrations and marketing, the first version of the device is going to be more about “developers and enterprise scenarios,” he said.
Clarifying, Nadella told ZDNet that gaming will be part of Microsoft’s plans for HoloLens, along with other forms of entertainment, but that won’t be the focus of the first version.
“I did buy Minecraft to create a new genre of gaming for mixed reality. We bought Minecraft for many reasons: because it’s the number one PC app; it’s the number one console app; it’s the number one paid mobile app on iOS and Android. I wanted a hit game even for the new medium of mixed reality. And we will have that. Gaming will always be a scenario and there will be other entertainment broadly. But, with the V.1 of HoloLens, I want us to push a lot more of the enterprise usage.”
Nadella calls Microsoft’s approach “dual-use focus, or multi-focus”.
“In general Microsoft’s approach will be always this dual-use focus, or this multi-focus. What we can uniquely do is bridge consumer to enterprise. That’s in our DNA. That’s why it’s even in our mission statement of empowering people and organizations. I want every technology of ours to seek that out. In the HoloLens case, when I look at the interest, it’s amazing how many are in hospitals, healthcare, retail. That’s where I’m seeing the interest and we’ll definitely go after it.”
This gives me an idea for a HoloLens program: whenever a CEO has some sort of jargon stroke, it could translate it for people who haven’t been trapped in a boardroom for the last few years. Just a thought!