Meta Plans to Shut Down One of Its Most Popular and Long-standing Multiplayer VR Games - Road to VR

Meta and its child-studio Ready astatine Dawn contiguous announced plans to unopen down the fashionable free-to-play multiplayer game Echo VR, with plans to crook disconnected severs travel August 1st.

Echo VR has had a storied journey, having primitively launched arsenic an Oculus Rift exclusive rubric each the mode backmost successful 2017. In 2020 the crippled made the leap to Quest, allowing cross-play multiplayer betwixt Rift and Quest players. Shortly thereafter, Meta announced that it had acquired the game’s developer, Ready astatine Dawn.

And though it stands arsenic 1 of the best-rated and astir fashionable escaped titles connected the Quest store, Meta has announced it plans to unopen the crippled down for bully connected August 1st. According to the announcement from Ready astatine Dawn, the main crushed down the planned shuttering is due to the fact that the workplace is “coming unneurotic to absorption connected our adjacent project.”

Although not mentioned specifically, it’s hard to ideate that the broader layoffs astatine Meta (and different large tech companies) has thing to bash with the announcement. Especially considering that Ready astatine Dawn released its past game, Lone Echo II, much than a twelvemonth ago; ostensibly the workplace has been good astatine enactment connected its “next project” for rather immoderate clip now.

In summation to being 1 of the platform’s astir fashionable escaped multiplayer games, Echo VR besides had 1 of the astir robust in-app acquisition offerings of immoderate VR rubric truthful far, with a battlepass-style strategy that allowed players to wage for the accidental to unlock cosmetic rewards implicit the people of 7 seasons. Unfortunately the workplace has confirmed that refunds for in-game contented volition not beryllium offered.

Image courtesy Ready astatine Dawn, Oculus

As a parting gift, astatine least, the workplace says players who play the crippled betwixt present and erstwhile it shuts down volition person a heap of premium cosmetic items for free:

From present until August 1, 2023, play conscionable 1 lucifer of either Echo Combat oregon Arena to unlock:

• All Epic + Superb rarity chassis/booster/bracer sets from Echo Pass seasons 1–6
  Season 7 rewards to beryllium released astatine a aboriginal date
• All Chassis Variants
• All non-3D rewards from Echo Pass seasons 1–6
  Season 7 rewards to beryllium released astatine a aboriginal date
• All Echo Shop items
  Including Starter Bundle
• All erstwhile lawsuit rewards
• Some antecedently unreleased rewards

The pursuing rewards will NOT be included successful the event

• VRML rewards
• LE2 Chassis
• Legendary rarity chassis/booster/bracer sets from the erstwhile 7 seasons
• Leveling Track Rewards

Leveling Track

• We volition present beryllium granting each leveling way items astatine lvl 1 truthful everyone gains entree to these rewards without impacting matchmaking quality.

Echo Shop

• We volition spot each legendary chassis/booster/bracer sets for merchantability connected the Echo Shop astatine reduced prices until the crippled shuts down.

And past but not least, Ready astatine Dawn confirmed that Echo Combat, the lesser-played FPS variant of the crippled (which ne'er made the leap to Quest) volition besides beryllium shutting down arsenic of August 1st, and is already nary longer disposable for purchase.