Google began its foray into virtual reality with Google Cardboard in 2014. Since then, we’ve seen the company’s ambitions in virtual reality and augmented reality continue to grow with the introduction and launch of the Daydream headset in 2016, and new headsets Independent Daydreams coming later. this year. A look at the company’s job postings so far this year reveals Google’s growing commitment and investment in virtual reality and augmented reality.

Google continues to ramp up its AR and VR teams and shows no signs of stopping any time soon. Road to virtual reality has collected data showing that so far in 2017, the company has posted an average of six new job openings per month, either explicitly for the AR/VR team or in tangential roles, with a total of 49 new offers in the first eight months of the year.

March has seen the highest number of listings so far this year (10), closely followed by February (9). Those two peak months weren’t long before the company announced the next big initiative in its Daydream VR program in May: standalone Daydream headsets coming soon from HTC and Lenovo. New job openings have peaked again this month, with nine new job openings and just over a week left in the month.

It’s not just the job numbers that tell an interesting story, but also the content of the listings. Of particular note, in March, Google listed five new jobs seeking ‘Daydream AR/VR Business Program Managers’ based in major tech hubs in Southeast Asia, suggesting the company plans to make big moves in the region. where VR is seeing some of its widest adoption.

If Google’s hiring trend seen so far in 2017 continues, the company should add around 73 new AR/VR job openings over the course of the year. As the company fulfills those roles, it represents millions in additional investment in AR and VR activities in salaries alone, not counting other costs related to product development and deployment, or existing AR/VR team members, which we expect to be at least as large as the number of new job openings so far this year.

Although Google has already announced its work on the standalone Daydream headset, their continued hiring suggests they still have big plans in store for AR and VR, and are gearing up for a growing push in the sector.

The job listings alone may not be representative of the total growth of Google’s AR/VR team, as they do not factor in internal recruiting or acquisitions. For example, Google tapped its current VP of product management, Clay Bavor, to head up the VR team in the first place, and the company acquired Skillman & Hackett, Thrive Audio, and Owlchemy Labs, specifically for AR/VR talent and technology. .

When we recently asked how big the company’s AR/VR team is, Bavor cleverly sidestepped, “big enough to do some really cool stuff.”