Less Metaverse at Meta, but More Wearables
Meta is shifting its focus from metaverse to wearables. The company is closing three VR gaming studios, making staff cuts at Camouflaj and discontinuing Supernatural content.
– 2 min read
In recent days, Meta has closed several of its internal VR game studios. The closures were first reported on social media before being confirmed (Kotaku, Bloomberg, Upload VR, The Verge). The affected studios include Sanzaru Games (Asgard's Wrath 2, Asgard's Wrath, VR Sports Challenge, Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time), Twisted Pixel Games (Marvel's Deadpool VR and Wilson's Heart) and Armature Studio (the Resident Evil 4 VR port and Where the Heart Leads). Camouflaj (Batman: Arkham Shadows, Marvel's Iron Man VR, République) is also facing layoffs. While the studio will not be closed, it will be downsized. The VR fitness app Supernatural will no longer receive any new content or feature updates. However, it will remain available.
In a statement, Meta explained that, in December, they had decided to shift some of their investment from the metaverse to wearables. These studio closures and layoffs were part of these efforts. These savings will be reinvested to support wearable growth this year. According to a recent report in The New York Times, layoffs were imminent at Reality Labs (the Metaverse/VR division), with around 10 percent of employees expected to be made redundant.
This means that Meta still has four active game studios: Beat Games (Beat Saber), BigBox (Population: One), Ouro Interactive (Super Strike) and the scaled-down Camouflaj (Batman: Arkham Shadow).
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Marcel Kleffmann is Chief of Content of GamesMarket and our B2B and B2C expert for hardware, market data, products and launch numbers with more than two decades of editorial experience.
