Yup! I remember getting some console dev kits early on that had a number of restrictions on them, like:

* Devices must be kept in an area with restricted access to those on the NDA; or * Devices must be kept in a locked office; or * Device must be chained to the desk; or * Device must be covered with a cardboard box at all times

Keeping AR glasses in a safe doesn’t seem too outlandish.

I'm curious, how did console manufacturers audit devs to make sure these procedures were being followed?

In our case they did not. But our management strictly forbidden us to talk to outsiders about devkits or sdk, or take photos of devkits.

I think that's enough in practice, and in our case an audit would be quite expensive because international flights.

It does however suggest that the early AR demos will be variations on a theme of "Escape from the safe".

Yup, I worked on a hardware project at Google that eventually became Android TV, and when we sent out hardware units they were hand-delivered by Google employees in GPS-tracked, locked Pelican cases. Upon receipt, devs had to keep it in a safe when they weren't working on it, and if I remember correctly, we gave them little decoy cardboard boxes to put over it to hide the case design from passers-by while it wasn't in the safe. Sending out devkits always feels very "briefcase handcuffed to a dude in a suit".

I had an internship at Google involving working on PS4 and xbox Dev kits. I wasted a month of three just getting proper documentation.

Sounds more like a gimmick to create hype, in Magic Leap's case

I can understand the case with videogames, for pre-release dev kits, but maybe it's too much as well.

I work in this industry, and every early devkit device we've received from the manufacturer has come with these kinds of constraints for us. I would have been much more shocked if Magic Leap didn't require these kinds of things of its early devkit recipients. And I'm a big ML skeptic.

The Hololens doesn't have such restrictions, and that's the closest device I can think of.

That's currently for sale, though. It's hard to tell me to keep it in a safe when you have a web page like this:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/buy

Other people commenting on this are spot on. This is standard operating procedure for new hardware with the sort of attention that Magic Leap has.

There were significant restrictions and weird PR "no go" topics with the Hololens as it was being developed. For a long time they didn't even allow photography of the physical hololens (as it was still in flux).

Why can't it be a legitimate concern, where they want to maximize the amount of development time before their competitors get their hands on them and start reverse engineering? This isn't a lightly modified PC meant to run games, this is whole new tech that could spawn a potentially huge new market if it turns out to be good. There's a lot at stake.

We have this amazing pin-drop blood testing device. But no releasing papers for peer review is too risky. It's too revolutionary! No, don't ask us how it works, we don't even reveal it to family it's that amazing.

- Theranos

Theranos was able to fool people by not allowing their system into 3rd party hands and doing all of the tests behind closed doors, mostly using 3rd party existing industry machines.

I don't see how that analogy applies here when the entire device is being given to actual companies and with restrictions merely because Magic Leap wants to control the full PR experience when the product launches.

That PR will come out in some fashion in the near future, and it won't require a whistleblower within the company to leak it and risk losing their jobs.

Extreme secrecy with NDAs-a-plenty also prevents massive failings from being broadcast to the public and harming your launch.

I've worked with quite a few console dev kits with serious restrictions, including needing to be in windowless rooms with locking doors. Usually that level of security was at the pre official public announcement stage though. It's a little unusual to have that level of security after the company has done a big PR push showing off pictures of the 'secret' hardware.