Metaverse VP Jason Rubin Leaves Meta

It was only announced in mid-January that Meta will be closing three VR studios and shifting its focus away from the metaverse, at least to some extent, and towards wearables. Although Meta will continue to operate four of its own game studios to support its XR platforms with first-party content, a certain strategic shift cannot be denied.

In this context, it seems logical that Jason Rubin, Vice President of Metaverse Experience, announced his departure from Meta in March on LinkedIn, even though Rubin himself does not make any connection to these events. 

“I’m incredibly proud of multiple eras of my work at Meta. I helped to build the Oculus Content team, Meta’s first content production and dev rel organization, and producing a lot of highly reviewed and industry applauded titles. I’m also proud of building the Metaverse Creative Team, empowering Design and Art, and raising our quality bar,” Rubin wrote on LinkedIn.

In fact, Rubin played a key role in shaping Meta's (formerly Facebook) development in the field of VR. The former co-founder of Naughty Dog joined Occulus VR as Head of Worldwide Studios in 2014 (in German), which was later acquired by Meta. Rubin was always able to draw on his experience on both the developer and publisher sides.

Before Oculus, Rubin was brought in as crisis manager by Brian Farrell as president (in German) in the hope of saving the then financially stricken US publisher, but this was unsuccessful. In an interview with GamesMarkt in 2016, Rubin spoke about Oculus Rift, games such as Crytec's The Climb, and his time at THQ. Subscribers can access the interview via the archive, although it was published in German.