Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Toolkit is Now Being Developed with Qualcomm and Magic Leap

Microsoft announced today that its Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 (MRTK3), the latest version of the open-source SDK that developers can use to create mixed reality apps will now be developed independently. The project has now been moved to an independent organization within GitHub, with Qualcomm and Magic Leap joining Microsoft on the steering committee.

Earlier this year, Microsoft reportedly laid off the entire team developing the Mixed Reality Toolkit, and other job cuts at Microsoft also affected the HoloLens team. If the future of the MRTK project was uncertain, the project being spun off into its a separate organization backed up by Qualcomm and Magic Leap should be reassuring.

“As its own organization, MRTK is now free of previous constraints that made it difficult for developers to introduce other endpoints and influence feature roadmaps. This transition does not change Microsoft’s investment in MRTK3. Instead, we are now afforded the opportunity to increase investments in the program and create a steering committee that includes other major industry players,” explained Robin Seiler, CVP and Chief Operating Officer of Microsoft’s Windows + Devices organization.

The Mixed Reality Toolkit 3 is currently in public preview and it’s expected to reach general availability in the fall. This latest version of the project supports Microsoft’s HoloLens 2, and it also has experimental support for Windows and other VR headsets from Meta, Valve, and Lenovo.

On a related note, Microsoft also announced last week that it was ending production of its Azure Kinect Developer Kit, which is a developer-focused camera that features the same depth camera module as Microsoft’s HoloLens headset. The technology will remain available through third-party companies as Microsoft has licensed its depth-sensing technology to its partner ecosystem.