Sony has fired the Game Director behind PSVR 2's Horizon VR game
In another bad sign for the Playstation VR 2, Sony has fired Horizon Call of the Mountain Game Director Alex Barnes.
Barnes announced his departure on X. Here's his full statement.
Today was my last day at Firesprite and PlayStation, as after nearly 7 years here I am being made redundant. It has been a tough time over the past few months, but thank you to all the folks that have continued to help each other through all of this, you have been incredible
The people at Firesprite and Guerrilla that pulled together to build Horizon Call of the Mountain were some of the most talented and dedicated developers I've had the pleasure to work with. It has been the honour of a lifetime to have been a Game Director with a team like this.
I look forwards to seeing what incredible things these wonderful people will continue to bring to the industry and to players everywhere. I know that they will be amazing wherever they go next!
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The slow end of PSVR 2
Horizon Call of the Mountain is Sony's only first-party title for Playstation VR 2. The VR game showed what the headset and PS5 console could do when a strong brand, great talent, and the necessary resources come together. The problem is that Sony has done nothing in that vein since.
Today was my last day at Firesprite and PlayStation, as after nearly 7 years here I am being made redundant. It has been a tough time over the past few months, but thank you to all the folks that have continued to help each other through all of this, you have been incredible ?
- Alex Barnes (@cappatches) April 30, 2024
Shortly before Christmas, a Sony executive described the headset as a "challenging category," and VR studio First Contact Entertainment, which was considered Sony's VR protégé, shut down. In February, Sony closed its London studio and laid off staff at Firesprite, both studios with deep VR expertise. In March, Bloomberg claimed that Sony had halted production of the Playstation VR 2 due to a backlog of unsold units.
Sony's recent announcement of PC VR support for the Playstation VR 2 did little to inspire confidence, leading to speculation that Sony might abandon the VR headset altogether.
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