What platforms support VR telepresence and virtual meetings?

VR telepresence and virtual meetings are supported by several platforms that cater to different use cases and technical requirements. Major options include Meta’s Horizon Workrooms, Microsoft Mesh, Spatial, EngageVR, and Mozilla Hubs. These platforms vary in their focus, from enterprise collaboration to social interaction, and offer tools for developers to integrate or customize experiences. For example, Meta’s Horizon Workrooms is designed for Oculus devices, providing avatar-based meetings with screen-sharing and whiteboard features, while Microsoft Mesh integrates with Teams and Azure services for hybrid workplace scenarios. Spatial, another key player, supports cross-platform access via VR headsets, PCs, and mobile devices, emphasizing 3D environment customization through its WebXR-compatible toolkit.

Developers can leverage SDKs and APIs provided by these platforms to build custom features or integrate VR meetings into existing applications. Microsoft Mesh offers Azure Spatial Anchors and Unity-based development tools, enabling persistent virtual environments anchored to physical locations. Spatial provides JavaScript/TypeScript SDKs for embedding VR spaces into web apps, along with REST APIs for user management and asset storage. Meta’s platform supports Unity and Unreal Engine integrations, allowing developers to create tailored experiences for Quest headsets. NVIDIA Omniverse, though primarily a 3D collaboration tool, also supports VR telepresence through its RTX rendering and USD (Universal Scene Description) framework, which developers can extend using Python or C++.

Open-source and web-based solutions like Mozilla Hubs offer flexibility for developers seeking full control over their VR environments. Mozilla Hubs, built on A-Frame and Three.js, allows self-hosting and customization of virtual rooms, with support for WebRTC for real-time communication. EngageVR provides a modular platform for education and events, offering a pricing model based on concurrent users and server capacity, which developers can scale using AWS or Azure. For lightweight use cases, platforms like Breakroom or Rumii focus on browser-based access with minimal setup, using WebGL and WebXR standards. When choosing a platform, developers should prioritize compatibility with target hardware (e.g., Quest, SteamVR), integration capabilities (APIs, authentication), and scalability requirements (self-hosted vs. cloud-managed).