Meta has laid off dozens of employees across its acquired VR studios this year, including the fitness app Supernatural and Asgard’s Wrath developer Sanzaru Games.
The Verge first reported the Supernatural layoffs a few hours ago, and a Meta spokesperson confirmed to the outlet that “some teams within Oculus Studios are undergoing shifts in structure and roles that have impacted team size”.
In a post in the Official Supernatural Community on Facebook, the fitness app developer confirmed “the loss of some of our incredibly talented team members” as part of a move to “work more efficiently”. It tells users to expect a reduced rate of workout releases, though says that more workouts will have multiple intensity options, which it claims will actually result in a greater number of suitable workouts for each user.
UPDATE: several hours after this article’s publication, UploadVR became aware of a LinkedIn post from a former employee of Sanzaru Games, the developer of the Asgard’s Wrath series, revealing that “a number” of employees were laid off from the studio in February in a previous round of layoffs. This article has been updated to reflect that.
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The Verge also writes that “some employees involved in the company’s hardware efforts” were laid off too, but says the Meta spokesperson declined to comment on this.
Bloomberg also reported on the layoffs a few minutes ago, and added that these other affected employees were in “operations”, and laid off because Meta “hopes to streamline similar work being done across two different teams”. A source familiar with the matter independently confirmed this to UploadVR, adding that these “operations” layoffs affected a very small number of staff.
According to Bloomberg, these laid off Meta employees are eligible to apply for new roles at the company.
Meta Laid Off Staff In Acquired VR Game Studios
Meta laid off “many” employees at Echo VR’s developer Ready at Dawn and Onward’s developer Downpour Interactive.
This is not the first time that Meta has laid off staff in its acquired VR studios. In 2023 the company laid off “many” at Echo VR’s developer Ready at Dawn and “a lot” at Onward’s developer Downpour Interactive.
Meta then shut down Ready at Dawn last year, while Downpour went on to release Onward Update 2.0 last month.
Meta’s remaining acquired studios include:
At the time of writing, it’s unknown if any other of these studios are also affected by the new layoffs, beyond Supernatural and Sanzaru Games.