Ready at Dawn, the tenured studio behind The Order: 1886, Lone Echo, and various God of War spin-offs, has reportedly been shut down by Meta. Per an internal memo seen by Android Central, the studio was shut to meet new budgetary restrictions for Meta’s Reality Labs division, which focuses on VR development.
This division has been struggling over the last few years, with 2022 financial reports indicating a loss of US $13.7 billion that year, and similar losses in the year prior. While Meta remains excited by the future of VR development, it appears the company is now whittling down its business, with the aim to create “better long-term impact” in the VR space.
Per Android Central, Meta said Ready at Dawn’s closure was not a sign of imminent mass layoffs, and that it remains committed to developing new VR experiences. No firm reason for Ready at Dawn’s closure was presented, but Android Central did note the studio hadn’t developed a new VR experience since 2021 (Lone Echo 2), and lower-then-expected sales could have contributed to the studio’s closure.
Also of note is that Meta made its first round of cuts to Ready at Dawn in April 2023, following the shuttering of one of its major VR projects, Echo VR.
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The loss of Ready at Dawn is significant, particularly given the tenure of the studio. While it had been working on VR games since 2017, prior to that, it produced a number of popular console games, including cult hit The Order: 1886. This cinematic action-adventure launched to mixed reviews, but for those with an interest in gothic Victorian horror, it was an absolute blast – and there have been loud calls for a sequel over the last decade.
Prior to The Order: 1886, Ready at Dawn also worked on a range of PlayStation Portable spin-offs for popular franchises. Daxter, a spin-off of Jak and Daxter, was the one of the first games developed by the studio, and this was followed by God of War: Chains of Olympus and God of War: Ghost of Sparta. The studio also worked on the Wii version of Ōkami, and the God of War: Origins Collection for PlayStation 3.
A transition to VR game development saw the company release a number of popular, critically-acclaimed VR games – Lone Echo, Lone Echo 2 – and in 2020, it was acquired by Oculus Studios (Meta). Just four years later, it appears Ready at Dawn has now officially shuttered, with staff encouraged to apply to other roles within Meta.
Our thoughts are with those developers impacted by the reported closure of Ready at Dawn.
