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Microsoft unveils $3,500 HoloLens 2 headset

Epic's Tim Sweeney praises tech giant's open approach to development

Microsoft unveils $3,500 HoloLens 2 headset

Microsoft has shown off its brand new HoloLens 2 augmented reality headset.

The firm revealed the tech at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress event, saying that the hardware is more comfortable and features eye-tracking magic to make projections seem more natural.

Much like its 2016 predecessor, HoloLens 2 doesn't come cheap, coming in at a cool $3,500. Right now, the tech is being aimed at businesses for enterprise use.

On-stage during the unveiling, Epic's Tim Sweeney said that Unreal Engine support for the AR hardware is in the works and will be rolled out to developers in May of this year.

It's clear that the Fortnite boss isn't talking about game development, rather the enterprise audience that Microsoft is targeting. Sweeney did however say that Epic is in the AR scene for the long-term, so it's likely we'll be seeing Unreal powering augmented reality games in the future.

Furthermore, Sweeney praised Microsoft's open approach to development for HoloLens, saying that he doesn't want to see walled gardens appearing around this emerging market. Just three years ago, the Epic boss was publicly clashing with the Big M over its new Universal Windows Platform and the Microsoft Store for being a closed platform.

Head on over to PCGamesInsider.biz for the full story.


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.