According to a source, Meta’s VR game development labs would escape the current round of layoffs. This proved to be untrue.
According to a Business Insider investigation, some of the only groups considered safe are those working on Meta’s gaming-related initiatives.
However, employees of Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo 1 & 2, Echo VR) and Downpour Interactive (Onward) claim to have been let go on Twitter and Linkedin, according to UploadVR.
Oculus Studios lose many employees
Over 40 employees, or about a third of Ready at Dawn, were laid off, claims Senior Engine Programmer Thomas Griebel. The studio’s director was also fired.
Layoffs also occurred at Downpour Interactive. Producer of Onward Kasper Nahuijsen posted on Twitter that the day was “the toughest day of my career” because he “lost a lot of colleagues and friends today.”
It’s hardly a good indicator when studio founder and CEO Dante Buckley left Meta voluntarily a month earlier.
“Another important thing I learned is the difference between a big company and a small startup, and the pros and cons of each. Some things work better in certain environments,” Buckley told UploadVR.
Other Meta employees, like Roxana del Toro, who did not work at one of the studios but supported Meta’s VR gaming branch, were also let go.
A lot of questions about Meta’s gaming plans
Two of the eight VR game firms that Meta has bought and incorporated into Oculus Studios since late 2019 are Ready at Dawn and Downpour Interactive. Facebook purchased Ready at Dawn in May 2020. The most recent project the firm worked on was the multiplayer game Echo VR, whose servers will be taken down by Meta on August 1st. The studio’s involvement in any more endeavors over the previous three years is unknown.
In April 2020, Downpour Interactive was purchased. For the past few years, the firm has been developing a tactical VR shooter called Onward. Although Mark Zuckerberg gave a hint that a sequel is being worked on, the VR game has not yet received an official announcement.
The layoffs make it unclear how far along Meta’s VR game ambitions really are. Since Resident Evil 4 (October 2021), there haven’t been many significant releases, and none of Meta’s VR firms have revealed or launched any new games since the acquisitions.
There is optimism that this will change soon: One report claims that 41 new apps are being developed for Meta Quest 3 alone, in addition to the 150 new third-party VR games that Meta revealed were in development for Meta Quest in March. It would be unexpected if that excluded works by Oculus Studios.
Late in 2022, Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth indicated that a new Meta Quest Gaming Exhibition would happen this spring. This event’s first and second iterations took place around this time in April. An official announcement is still pending.
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