Google announces it is shutting down internal development of Tilt Brush VR and is open sourcing it, a month after shutting down Poly, a 3D object library
As Facebook and Apple begin to fire up more projects in the AR/VR world, Google has spent the last year shutting down most of their existing projects in that space.
TechCrunchLucas Matney
Context & Ripple Effects
Google’s exit from internally developed VR products has been building for years: it discontinued the Daydream View headset before open-sourcing Cardboard’s phone-based VR software, and an earlier high-end standalone headset effort was also shut down. Tilt Brush extends that pattern from VR viewing hardware and software to a creative tool.
The move follows the planned closure of Poly, Google’s AR/VR 3D-object library, removing another component of Google’s in-house AR/VR developer stack. Together, the decisions matter because they leave Google distributing code rather than operating key VR tools and services.
First-order effects
Google ends its internal Tilt Brush development while making the software’s code available for outside developers to use and modify.
Tilt Brush users and developers lose a Google-maintained product at the same time Poly is scheduled to leave Google’s AR/VR toolchain.
Second-order effects
Apple and Facebook, which are increasing AR/VR project activity, face a Google that is no longer advancing Tilt Brush as a proprietary creative-software offering.
Developers seeking both 3D assets and VR creation tools must replace the combination of Poly and Tilt Brush with alternatives or maintain open-source software themselves.
Third-order effects
Google’s repeated shutdown-and-open-source approach points to a narrower role in VR: preserving access to selected software without sustaining the products, hardware, or libraries around it.
If that pattern persists, AR/VR platform competition will increasingly be shaped by companies willing to maintain integrated tools and services, while abandoned code becomes a community-managed layer.
The trend: Google is retreating from operating an integrated VR stack and increasingly converting discontinued VR software into open-source projects.
Tilt Brush was one of the #VR apps that sold the medium to us, so it's sad to see Google move away from development. On the other side, @TomNeumannVR has already created a multiplayer prototype with the now open-sourced code: https://twitter.com/... 🙌 https://twitter.com/...
I honestly have a hard time understanding how @Google is just sitting there and watching @Microsoft @Facebook and @Apple build their respective #XR platforms while they have NONE. Like, they have legitimately failed the market and I believe it's continuing to hurt industry growth
It hurts to see another Google project I care about shut down, but open-sourcing this is a really nice gesture (I'm also not as surprised as I might be, given the death of both Google Poly and all of Google's public AR and VR projects) https://techcrunch.com/...
i'm heartbroken that this means that Google's stepping away from developing Tilt Brush further, but i believe that if the present XR industry wants to survive/thrive it *needs* to get from under mega corporations. https://twitter.com/...
imo the real news is Tilt Brush is officially no longer supported or maintained by google. If you're going to sunset a popular product, open sourcing is the best way to do it. But it's *also* another line item in a trend that includes killing poly, blocks, Daydream, etc etc https…
This is overall good news, but btwn this, closing Poly, & the death of Daydream, Expeditions (+other Cardboard-based initiatives), feels like Google is very much abandoning VR. Wonder if selling Owlchemy is next; that purchase came when Mirage Solo was teeing to compete w/ Quest.…
End of an era! Tilt Brush shaped so much of the VR ecosystem. Open sourcing the tool is such an incredible gift to the community. I hope this means it will live on forever :') https://twitter.com/...
Tilt Brush is Open Source 😍🤩🤯🥳 😍😍 THANK YOU @phacktweets @PlanetTimmy @DoLowSupreme and everyone at the TB team who made this happen!!!! THANK YOU!! Next up: Hit me up if you need me for your TB software! Let's continue making the future of art + tech! https://twitter.com/...
Google open sources Tilt Brush VR software as it shuts down internal development. As Facebook and Apple begin to fire up more projects in the AR/VR world, Google has spent the last year shutting down most of their existing projects in that space.... https://techcrunch.com/...