Avatars are coming to Microsoft Teams: the feature was initially announced as early as November 2021, while the first private tests with some companies have been underway for about a couple of months. An update of the official 365 roadmap has confirmed that the so-called General Availability (trivially, the availability for the majority of users with stable software) is scheduled for May.
The feature is marked on the roadmap with the identification code 107969, and is based on the Mesh mixed reality platform. Specifically, the user can choose to show his own avatar, a non-photorealistic 3D representation of yourself, in lieu of your camera feed during an online meeting. According to the official announcement in November, it will be possible to activate some advanced features that help with immersion, such as eye contact and real-time reactions. Note that for the reactions and general animation of the avatar, the voice is sufficient: the camera can be completely turned off.
To use the avatars, you will need the dedicated app of the same name, which can be found in the Teams store. will initially be available on PC and Mac. Through a partnership with Meta, Microsoft plans to extend Mesh avatars to Quest headsets as well: in fact, the broader purpose is to create a Teams client for Mark Zuckerberg’s VR system. It is worth noting that the publicly available Microsoft 365 roadmap (link in SOURCE below) is not always 100% reliable; there may be changes, delays and other mishaps.
