Tech companies like Meta, Microsoft and others have come together to create the Metaverse Standards Forum for the emerging metaverse in an attempt to help the companies create digital worlds that work together seamlessly. 

Participants of this industry standards body include many of the world’s largest tech companies, from metaverse-first companies to gaming titans and chipmakers as well as established standards bodies like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), according to the statement made by the Forum announcing its creation on Tuesday. 

It’s worth noting that one of the largest companies in the tech space, Apple, was conspicuously absent. Analysts expect the company to become a major player in the metaverse once it introduces its mixed-reality headset, which is slated to be released either this year or the next.

Apple hasn’t publicly made any statements about a planned headset, but according to Bloomberg reports, board members were given a sneak peek of the product. The company hasn’t made any statements about the planned metaverse forum, either. 

Should the Apple headset make it to market, it could be poised to be in direct competition with Meta. The tech giant that owns Facebook has been pushing hard for the metaverse and has been directing manpower to the creation of hardware that would match its vision of creating interconnected digital worlds a reality. Meta apparently has plans for a mixed-reality headset, code-named “Cambria” to be released sometime this year.

According to Neil Trevett, an Nvidia executive heading the Forum, all companies would be welcome to join the organization, including crypto players. 

On the other hand, Apple has focused its attention towards creating three-dimensional content in league with Pixar and helped create the “USDZ” file format, and roped in Adobe to make sure that it would be supported. 

Niantic and Roblox weren’t amongst the forum’s participants, and neither were the crypto-based metaverse facing platforms like The Sandbox or Decentraland.