Meta reportedly close Ready At Dawn, creators of some of the best VR games

Facebook and Oculus Rift owners Meta are reportedly closing Ready At Dawn Studios, the outfit behind the excellent Echo VR and Lone Echo games, as part of wider reductions at the company's Reality Labs division.

The report in question comes from Android Central, who cite internal memos from Reality Labs. According to the site's Nicholas Sutrich, the closure is intended to ensure Reality Labs "stays within [its] new budgetary constraints and that Oculus Studios can make a 'better long-term impact' in VR development". It follows a report from mid-July that Meta plan to cut Reality Labs' budget by 20% by 2026.

A Meta spokesperson also told the site that the reductions at Reality Labs aren't evidence of cuts to the number of first-party games on Quest VR headsets, and that Meta are still committed to VR development. Meta declared that Quest 3 sales are "exceeding their expectations" in the company's most recent quarterly earnings call last week.

While Meta have yet to release an official comment, former Ready At Dawn developers have been reacting to the news on social media and sharing memories of the studio. "Ready At Dawn gave me a visa to come to the USA after 3 months of fruitlessly looking for work back in the UK after my prior employer went bankrupt," wrote character technical artist Sol Brennan. "I came to the USA with nothing but $300 and two suitcases. And my job at Ready at Dawn. 10 years later, I have two(.5) GDC talks, several critically acclaimed games released under my belt, own my home and a wonderful supportive network of friends."

"I am eligible to be a US citizen this November," Brennan went on. "None of this would have happened if Ready At Dawn hadn't given me that chance. Although the American dream is propaganda... I can definitely say I'm living it."

Meta acquired Ready At Dawn for their Oculus operations in June 2020. The developers' Lone Echo is one of our favourite VR games, but Ready At Dawn also have a proud history of porting Sony's God Of War and Jak & Daxter series to portable PlayStations. Their original fantasy cover shooter The Order: 1886 was less well-received, but stood apart for its glossy period art direction and PS4-melting graphics technology. Critics I respect have described it as a cult classic. I've been meaning to give it a go - shame you can't find it on PC.

Best of luck to everybody at Ready At Dawn who is now looking for work.