Former Altspace CEO Eric Romo joins Facebook as Director of Product for Social VR.
Eric Romo, who founded AltspaceVR in January 2013, will be moving to the role of Director of Product at Facebooks’s Social VR team, the group behind Facebook Spaces.
Romo is joining Facebook as a product director, according to a post by Facebook’s social VR team leader Rachel Rubin Franklin.
"Today the Facebook Social VR team is getting one avatar bigger! I'm incredibly excited that Eric Romo, founder and CEO of AltspaceVR, is joining us as a Product Director. Eric is a pioneer in the social VR space who shares our vision of building virtual reality with people at the center. He's spent years building virtual communities to bring people together around common interests and compelling content.
Eric joins a talented team filled with experts from the worlds of gaming, film, art, design, engineering, research, and more. Last year we took some early steps toward exploring what human connection can look like in VR, and we have ambitious plans to learn and ship even more this year. With lots to tackle in 2018, I'm thrilled to have Eric on board. VR has such immense promise to connect people in new ways, and it's only the beginning. Eric, welcome to the team."
In his own statement Eric looked forward to his future at Facebook.
“As I look back at my journey with AltspaceVR, I couldn’t be prouder of what we accomplished. We built one of the first and most vibrant places to meet in VR — starting before the first consumer headsets even shipped! But it’s really the community of passionate people that has grown around AltspaceVR that amazes me most, and continues to confirm my belief that being together with others in VR will revolutionize the way we connect with each other. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I left AltspaceVR with confidence that the team is well-placed to continue pushing forward the promise of virtual communication as part of the Microsoft mixed reality ecosystem. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next, and wish them all the best.”
