Meta merges two of its most successful VR studios
Meta discontinues the development of "Onward" and fully integrates Downpour Interactive into Camouflaj. The VR studio is thus losing its independence.
Meta merges two successful VR studios and discontinues development of the long-running VR tactical shooter "Onward".
(Image: Downpour Interactive)
The VR tactical shooter “Onward” will no longer receive any new content. The developer studio Downpour Interactive will be dissolved and fully integrated into the meta-studio Camouflaj. This was announced by the developers on June 17 on the official blog. The current version 2.0 of “Onward” will remain playable on all platforms for now, but will no longer be developed further.
Anyone requiring technical support will have to go through the respective platform providers Steam and Meta Quest in the future. According to Downpour Interactive, content-related questions can still be clarified in the community channels on Discord and Reddit. Meta itself has not yet commented publicly on the future of the title.
End for one of the longest-running VR games
With the move to fully transfer Downpour Interactive to Camouflaj, Meta is further restructuring its internal game studios. Camouflaj had previously made a name for itself with titles such as “Iron Man VR” and developed one of the best VR games on the Quest platform with “Batman: Arkham Shadow”. Both studios were among the more successful VR teams under the Meta umbrella and are now to work together on further content.
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However, the integration of Downpour Interactive into Camouflaj also effectively means the end of an independent studio that has produced one of the longest-running and best-known competitive VR games. For “Onward”, the active development phase ends after more than nine years.
Studio founder Dante Buckley originally developed the tactical VR shooter on his own and released it for PC VR headsets on Steam in 2016. “Onward” quickly became one of the most popular titles in the genre and was released for the Quest platform in 2020. A year later, Meta took over the studio and integrated it into Oculus Studios as one of nine VR development studios during an acquisition phase that lasted several years.
Restructuring to reduce costs
The merger comes at a time when Meta has restructured its XR division several times. Over the past two years, employees from Reality Labs and Oculus Studios have been repeatedly made redundant. The VR studio Ready at Dawn – responsible for the Lone Echo series – was also closed.
According to Meta, these steps serve to reduce the costs of the XR department by 20 percent by 2026. At the same time, the company emphasizes that it intends to continue developing VR content. With “Marvel's Deadpool VR”, another Quest 3-exclusive VR blockbuster is set to be released this year.
(joe)
