Microsoft hire Liz Hamren as VP of mixed reality

Microsoft has appointed Liz Hamren as corporate VP of mixed reality, sending a clear message that the company is looking to increase its efforts in the VR/AR spaces.

Hamren has form, too. She held the title of head of global marketing and sales at Oculus, and was with Oculus for two years ahead of the jump to Microsoft. She’ll be reporting to Microsoft’s head of marketing for Windows and devices, Yusuf Mehdi.

Microsoft’s VR/AR efforts have been somewhat muted so far though,
pushing into AR with the augmented reality headset HoloLens in 2015. Many of its competitors have instead bet on virtual reality, backing this with heavy investment. Microsoft changed their tune, promising that the new Creator’s Update for Windows would push it towards mixed and virtual reality support. Mixed reality support is coming to Windows this week, so this new hire seems well-timed.

Any big announcement about the future of mixed reality, AR or VR is likely to come at Microsoft’s next Build developer’s conference in May, or the pre-E3 Xbox presser in June.