Jaunt, who has been a big player in the virtual reality space has announced that they’ll be phasing their company towards pursuing AR content. In a blog post the company mentioned, “Jaunt will be focusing efforts on further developing technologies that allow for the scaled creation of AR content.”
Jaunt has made this decision based on their initial customer response to their advancements in volumetric XR technology. But in doing so, they will be “laying off a significant portion of their staff,” according to their statement to Variety. In addition, the company will be windown down a number of VR products and content services in the coming weeks.
Jaunt has raised over $100 million to date with backers such as Disney, Evolution Media Partners, and China Media Capital. CEO George Kliavkoff departed Jaunt recently and was replaced by Mitzi Reaugh. CTO Arthur Van Hoff will also be departing the company by the end of the year.
Over the years, Jaunt has created their own cameras such as the Jaunt One and released their own VR experiences such as Free The Night. The company will now begin their next phase as they start to explore the augmented reality space and removing themselves from the VR space.
The company stated that they will work with their client to deliver their existing commitments and manage this transition. But ultimately will be “winding down a number of VR products and content services in the coming weeks.”