Meta shuts down studio that created legendary VR games
Meta shuts down one of its best first-party studios, which created the PC VR classics Lone Echo and Echo Arena.
Meta is said to have closed Ready at Dawn today, according to a report from Androidcentral.
The cut was made to meet the budget constraints for Meta's VR/AR division, Reality Labs, rather than as a proactive cost-cutting initiative, according to the report. The Information recently reported that Meta's VR/AR division had been ordered to cut costs by 20 percent by 2026.
A Meta spokesperson told Androidcentral that the closure "isn't a signal of wider cuts to the number of first-party games on Quest and that the company is still committed to VR development."
Meta wants to retain the talent and encouraged the employees to apply for other positions within Oculus Studios, Meta's first-party VR studios.
A bitter loss for VR
Meta has acquired 9 VR studios in the last five years, including Ready at Dawn in 2020.
In its early years, the studio developed Daxter and two God of War games for the PSP. It is also known for The Order: 1886. In 2017, Ready at Dawn impressed with its first two VR titles Lone Echo and Echo Arena. Lone Echo is considered one of the best games of the early PC VR era, while Echo Arena set new standards in VR multiplayer gaming.
In 2020, the studio ported Echo Arena for Meta Quest, and in 2021, Lone Echo 2 was released for the Rift platform, the last major PC VR game funded by Meta.
Since then, the studio has gone quiet, and to date, no Ready at Dawn game has been released that was natively developed for Meta Quest, even though this was the most obvious reason for the studio's acquisition. The Quest port of Echo Arena, called Echo VR, was shut down in 2023 by Meta.
Whatever the reason for the end of Ready at Dawn is, the closure represents a bitter loss of talent for the VR industry.
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