Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella launches 3D avatars, enters metaverse race

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has launched three-dimensional avatars and immersive meetings in a bid to enter the metaverse race.

The company is going to roll out a collaborative platform for virtual experiences that will combine HoloLens meetings with mixed reality.

The metaverse broadly refers to the idea of a shared virtual platform that people can access through different devices and where they can move through digital environments.

According to Nadella, ''As the digital and physical worlds come together, we are creating an entirely new platform layer, which is the metaverse.''

''In a sense the metaverse enables us to embed computing into the real world and embed the real world into computing, bringing real presence to any digital space,'' he added.

Microsoft will update its Teams app to push towards metaverse environment that will ''transform how we see the world but how we participate in it.''

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It comes after Mark Zuckerberg changed Facebook's name to Meta Platforms Inc to reflect its focus on building the ''metaverse.''

As Covid lockdown measures and work-from-home policies pushed more people online for both business and pleasure, the concept has surged in popularity during the pandemic.

Microsoft, which owns Xbox and the world-building game Minecraft, is also a key player in the gaming world. 

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Recently, metaverse has become one of the tech sector's hottest buzzwords, with companies pouring millions of dollars into its development.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has talked about planning for "a metaverse or mixed-reality construct."

Fortnite's owners Epic Games said in April that $1 billion of funding raised recently would be used to support its "vision for the metaverse".

(With inputs from agencies)