Microsoft has reportedly fired 60 engineers working on HoloLens

There’s been a flurry of news recently surrounding the headset with a report that 60 engineers in Israel have been fired, and Kudo Tsunoda who has a long history with Microsoft’s Xbox brand has now headed over to the HoloLens division.

The translated article says that Microsoft Israel stopped working on the project all of the sudden, with 30 permanent employees given one month to find a new job within the company. (I’m assuming that acquisition was 3D CMOS camera-chipmaker Canesta, which Microsoft bought in November 2010.) Ynet reported that Microsoft planned to use its own technology in place of that developed by the Israeli team.

While the video is a little glitch, it’s a pretty good indication of what we should expect from the HoloLens for things like first-person shooters.

Autodesk is working with Microsoft HoloLens on a solution that could revolutionise the way industrial designers, mechanical engineers and product development teams work together. “As needed, we increase investments in some areas and de-invest in others which results in the movement of jobs across the organization, and at times, job eliminations”. Starting with basic VR headsets, leading through advances in motion controls, Microsoft is continuing to develop what it means to be the cutting edge. “Our priority is to work with and support employees affected by this decision”. However, we still don’t know if or when it will land in the hands of consumers.

The Microsoft HoloLens isn’t out for public consumption just yet, but Microsoft has started promoting the device by asking developers to publish clips of them showing off what the HoloLens can do.