Another VR studio falls: Toast Interactive announces major layoffs
Sad news: The well-known VR studio Toast Interactive is forced to close its office and lay off most of its employees.
Toast Interactive, the studio behind VR hits like Richie's Plank Experience and the recent platformer Max Mustard, has announced it's closing its offices and laying off most of its staff. The news marks another blow to an already struggling VR industry.
In a LinkedIn statement, studio founders Toni and Richard Eastes shared the difficult news, emphasizing that this wasn't a path they ever wanted to take. The company has promised to support affected team members in their future careers wherever possible, while highlighting the talent and passion that went into their recent release Max Mustard — evident in the awards it received.
The studio plans to continue maintaining both Richie's Plank Experience and Max Mustard "with a lean approach", though specific details about the number of layoffs and the future of their published and planned VR games remain unclear. We've reached out to Toast Interactive for clarification and will update this story as we learn more.
A broader industry crisis
This isn't Toast Interactive's first round of cuts — the studio already laid off ten employees in November, joining a growing list of VR developers forced to downsize. Other prominent studios like nDreams, Fast Travel Games, Soul Assembly, and XR Games have all faced similar restructuring challenges in recent months.
Several factors are driving this industry-wide downturn. The Meta Quest platform's audience is increasingly skewing younger, favoring free-to-play games over premium titles. This shift has been accelerated by last October's release of the budget-friendly Meta Quest 3S and Meta's store strategy highlighting free-to-play content. Additionally, the growing number of VR games has made it increasingly difficult for studios to stand out in the Meta Quest Store.
Despite these challenges, Toast Interactive had managed to launch a well-received VR platformer with Max Mustard, and recently updated Richie's Plank Experience with new mixed reality features and improved graphics. But even solid products haven't been enough to weather the current market conditions.
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