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

Hey, so here’s a fun little tidbit. Microsoft kinda pulled the plug on its WMR stuff on Windows 11 — yeah, just ditched it. Which means, poof, no more first round of PC VR headsets working like they used to. Anyway, here’s the interesting part: this guy Matthieu Bucchianeri is coming in clutch with something called ‘Oasis.’ It’s like a SteamVR driver that’s supposed to patch things up. Clever dude.

He’s saying — or maybe hoping? — that it’s dropping globally on August 29th. But if Valve’s giving it a thumbs-up is anyone’s guess, right? So, Oasis is basically this glue for Windows Mixed Reality headsets so they can chat nicely with SteamVR again. Otherwise, you’d have to deal with Microsoft’s Mixed Reality Portal nonsense. And, oh, they’re even adding full 6DoF tracking with motion controllers. Sweet deal if you ask me.

But, here’s the catch. It’s kinda picky about friends — only plays nice with Nvidia GPUs. Something about how SteamVR talks to the GPU drivers. Matthieu’s been knocking on AMD’s door, but it sounds like they’re not really in a chatty mood. He’s called it “dead in the water.” Yikes. In a Reddit thread (because where else would the tea spill?), he mentioned AMD basically giving them the silent treatment or some techno-babble about LiquidVR and device flags. I’ll be honest, I got lost there.

Skip back a bit — last October, Windows 11 24H2 rolled out, and bam, the WMR platform was kinda put on ice. All those partner VR headsets from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Samsung? Yeah, they’re left hanging.

Now, get this, Bucchianeri? He’s got a past. Used to be a software whiz in Microsoft’s mixed reality zone. These days, he’s digging into the firmware for Xbox Gaming Devices. Yet, Oasis is his side gig. Not causing any NDA drama though — seems he’s keeping it clean, not messing with Microsoft’s secrets. Just leveraging SteamVR’s magic, I guess.

So there you have it. Bit of chaos, a dash of hope, and some VR geekery. Hopefully, Oasis gets to see daylight soon. Fingers crossed!