If you're interested in the world of Microsoft outside of Xbox, you might have seen yesterday that the company unveiled its new Mixed Reality platform called "Mesh", which "enables presence and shared experiences from anywhere – on any device – through mixed reality applications."

For the record, this isn't something that indicates VR is on the way to Xbox or anything like that, but Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella did compare its influence to the launch of Xbox Live during his keynote speech (thanks CRN):

“Think about what Xbox Live did for gaming--we went from single player to multiplayer, creating communities that help people connect and achieve together. Now just imagine if the same thing happened with mixed reality.”

So, how does Microsoft Mesh work? Microsoft says it "enables its users to connect with presence, share across space, and collaborate in an immersive way as if they were in person regardless of physical location. Customers can leverage Mesh to enhance virtual meetings, conduct virtual design sessions, assist remotely better, learn together virtually, host virtual social gatherings and meet-ups."

Niantic even provided a proof-of-concept Pokémon Go AR demo using the Microsoft Hololens 2:

Team Xbox hasn't commented on the announcement of Microsoft Mesh whatsoever, but so don't go expecting any kind of reveals, but this is still an interesting look at where Microsoft is going with Mixed Reality as a company.

What do you make of this? Give us your thoughts down in the comments.