Sony Completes Acquisition of Softkinetic
Sony has announced completion of its acquisition of Softkinetic Systems, causing speculation about Sony’s future plans in the AR domain across the industry.
Softkinetic was a leading provider of body-sensing and image-recognition technology. Many systems that produce 3D Augmented Reality acquire and use information such as that produced by Softkinetic technology embedded by and/or licensed by from the company by third parties. Sony’s announcement does not specify what it plans to do with the technology nor the terms of the deal.
The change in circumstances will likely cause those enterprise Augmented Reality system providers that currently license Softkinetic technology for gesture control to begin exploring alternate providers such as Thalmic Labs and Leap Motion.