Apple has reportedly bought Mira, which supplied the AR tech that powers the Super Nintendo World Mario Kart rides at Universal Studios in Japan and California.
Following the reveal of the augmented reality (AR) Vision Pro headset earlier this week, Apple has acquired the company that worked on the headsets for Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge.
The Verge reported the news, after seeing a private Instagram post from the CEO of Mira that confirmed the sale.
Mira is an AR startup that has contracts with the US military, as well as supplying smartphone-powered AR headsets to industries such as chemical manufacturing plants. But according to The Verge, Mira’s tech also powered the Mario Kart rides at the two Super Nintendo World theme parks in Japan and California.
Apple responded to a request for comment by saying: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
It remains unclear exactly what role Mira will end up having within Apple, but it’s likely to be something connected with the Vision Pro, which has garnered both praise for its forward-thinking technology and a certain amount of amazement at its price tag, which is far in excess of other consumer-facing headsets on the market. (Granted, there are some extraordinarily expensive VR/AR headsets you could potentially buy, but these are generally intended for industrial use.)
Going back to that Mira deal, and it seems a bit of a long shot to imagine that Apple’s new product will be getting a version of Mario Kart. Perhaps there’s an AR-powered, Mario Kart-inspired arcade racer along the lines of the under-appreciated Blur in the offing somewhere at Apple? That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
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