Quick take:
- Mozilla has acquired Active Replica.
- The Firefox creator said the purchase is part of its metaverse strategy.
- The Vancouver-based startup is building a web-based metaverse.
Mozilla has announced the acquisition of Active Replica. The Firefox developer is buying the Vancouver, Canada-based developer to accelerate its metaverse campaign. Active Replica develops web-based metaverse platforms that do not require the use of VR/AR devices.
Active Replica will help Mozilla accelerate the development of its VR chat rooms, dubbed Hubs, Mozilla SVP Imo Udom said on Wednesday.
According to Udom, Active Replica will play a crucial part in user onboarding, and improving experiences. The metaverse developer will also work on personalised subscription tiers and introduce new interaction capabilities in hubs.
“The magical, immersive experiences that Active Replica has built are perfectly attuned to our increasingly distributed, remote-first world,” Udom wrote in a blog post.
On the other hand, Active Replica will benefit from Mozilla’s portfolio of talent and its global reach to bring its innovative web-based metaverse platforms to the market.
“Together, we see this as a key opportunity to bring even more innovation and creativity to Hubs than we could alone. We will benefit from their unique experience and ability to create amazing experiences that help organizations use virtual spaces to drive impact,” the blog reads.
The metaverse has become a key target of companies looking to disrupt global communications by taking human interactions into the 3D virtual world.
Although Mozilla’s metaverse platform Hubs launched in 2018, the project was never branded as such, with the web2 developer instead pitching the idea as an “experiment” in “immersive social experiences”. Although Hubs took off to a slow start as a free-to-use platform, it seems to be picking up pace following the introduction of the $20.00 per month premium version.
The Hubs platform is looking to introduce more subscription tiers to attract different levels of users with the free version potentially returning at some point in the future, according to Mozilla.
Commenting on the company’s acquisition by Mozilla via a post on the website, Jacob Ervin and Valerian Denis, co-founders of Active Replica wrote: “From the very first day, we’ve believed that the web-based metaverse will be the cornerstone of how people connect virtually. Working with social, cultural, and educational organizations has given us the opportunity to see how important the open web is to the future of remote communication.”
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