Meta shuts down Ready at Dawn amid major VR budget cuts

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Ready at Dawn, a first-party development studio under Meta, is being shut down as the Reality Labs division faces significant budgetary reductions. According to an internal memo from Vice President of Oculus Studios Gio Hunt, the company plans to cut the division’s budget by 20% over the next two years.

Ready at Dawn was acquired by Meta in 2020 and is best known for Lone Echo 2, which launched last year. However, this long-term VR project comes to an end as part of Meta’s move toward sustainable VR development.

Meta reallocates VR resources with Ready at Dawn closure

While noting that these reductions are not solely about saving costs, the official memo states that this move is designed to enable Oculus Studios to have a bigger impact on VR development. This comes amid Meta’s increasing focus on standalone VR with the Meta Quest line of headsets — which contrasts with Ready at Dawn’s more recent PC VR-centric releases.

The gaming industry owes much to Ready at Dawn. Founded in 2003 by former Naughty Dog developers, the studio became known for its PSP spin-off Daxter and its critically acclaimed God of War games for PSP. Their PS4 exclusive title, Order: 1886, showcased their technical ability but was let down by gameplay mechanics and a short length.

Ready at Dawn faces challenges in VR transition

In 2017, the studio released Lone Echo for Oculus Rift as part of their foray into VR gaming. This was followed up by a sequel in 2021, Lone Echo 2. Despite these efforts, Ready at Dawn found it difficult to get behind Meta’s standalone VR vision. While they did bring multiplayer mode Echo Arena to Meta Quest, Lone Echo 2 remained exclusive to PC VR Oculus Rift headsets. Then in August this year popular game Echo VR was closed down without much explanation.

The closure of Ready at Dawn follows significant financial losses in Meta’s Reality Labs, which reported a second-quarter loss of $4.5 billion. The restructuring efforts are intended to align this division with new budgetary constraints while continuing support for VR development within Meta. Meta is encouraging Ready at Dawn employees to pursue opportunities within Oculus Studios.

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