On Monday, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, said that 3D avatars will be added to Facebook and Messenger, as well as improvements to current ones. People in the United States, Canada, and Mexico can portray their virtual identities via stickers, feed posts, Facebook profile images, and other platforms from Meta’s Quest VR platform.
According to Aigerim Shorman, Meta’s general manager for avatars and identities, the new avatars will have more inclusive facial shapes as well as assistive devices such as cochlear implants, hearing aids, and wheelchairs to better portray persons with disabilities.
According to Monday’s release, these avatars aid the company’s drive into the still mostly aspirational metaverse, which Shorman described as an “interconnected digital environment, one that combines VR and AR but also other well-known platforms like your phone and computer.”
Meta’s metaverse goals are as follows:
3D Avatars, VR, and many More
According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the metaverse is a top goal for the corporation, which he highlighted last year while renaming Meta. On Monday, he added, “One day you’ll be able to have several avatars in different styles and ranges of expressiveness.”
Metaverse showed off its Codec Avatars and real-time environment rendering during its Facebook Connect presentation in October, but the company stressed that much more research was still needed.
Meta released Super Bowl LVI-themed T-shirts for avatars on its platforms on Monday. The Cincinnati Bengals will take on the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 13th.
Meta will release its fourth-quarter results on February 2nd, and the firm claims it will break out earnings for its AR and VR Reality Labs subsidiary for the first time, giving a view into the financial impact of Meta’s focus on the Metaverse on the company’s other companies.
Read more: Facebook Changes Its Name to Meta