Oasis WMR Driver Set to Launch This Month, Revitalizing Microsoft’s PC VR Headsets

So, picture this. Microsoft, yeah, they just kinda… stopped caring about their Mixed Reality thing on Windows 11 last year. Like, you know, waved goodbye to those VR headsets they had going. But here’s where it gets a little wacky—this dude, Matthieu Bucchianeri, he’s brewing up something he calls ‘Oasis’. It’s like a SteamVR driver that’s supposed to pick up the slack. Apparently, it’s dropping, um, around August 29th, but it really hinges on Valve giving it the green light. Fingers crossed?

Now, Oasis wants to make friends with those Windows Mixed Reality headsets, letting them chill with SteamVR. Normally, you’d need that Mixed Reality Portal from Microsoft to get it all working. But Matthieu’s talking about this support for, like, full 6DoF tracking and motion controllers. It sounds techy, but kinda cool, right?

Oh, but hold on. There’s a catch. If you’re rocking anything other than Nvidia for your GPU, you’re outta luck. SteamVR doesn’t really vibe with AMD for this. Something about “flag this and that” and it’s like, “Nah, not happening.” Matthieu’s tried knocking on AMD’s door, but it’s like shouting into the void. They’re either ignoring him or just… doing nothing useful. Awkward.

Flashback to last October: Microsoft kinda pulled the plug on WMR alongside this big Windows 11 update. That left a whole mess of VR headset brands—Acer, Asus, Dell, you name it—out in the cold. Now Bucchianeri? He’s been around the block at Microsoft’s mixed reality gig before jumping ship to the Xbox side of things. But this Oasis? Totally his side project. No secret stuff was stolen, promise. He’s just tinkering away, not stepping on Microsoft’s toes or anything.

And uh, yeah. That’s the scoop. Sorta.