Firewall Developer First Contact Entertainment is Shutting Down Due to “Lack of Support for VR”

2023 may have seen a bevy of excellent new games, but for the people making them, it’s been a devastating year, thanks to constant industry-wide layoffs and a number of notable studio closures. Now, another developer has announced that it’s being shuttered.

First Contact Entertainment – known for its virtual reality shooters like Firewall: Zero Hour, Firewall Ultra, and Solaris: Offworld Combat – has announced on Facebook that it will be shutting down. The studio attributes its closure to “the lack of support for VR within the industry”, saying it cannot justify the expenses that would be required to keep moving forward.

“After almost 8 years of working with the most amazing team I’ve ever had the pleasure of being part of, I’m sad to announce that we will be closing our company First Contact Entertainment by the end of the year,” the announcement post on the studio’s Facebook page reads. “The lack of support for VR within the industry has eventually taken its toll. As a AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed going forward. We are a team of fearless innovators willing to push new technologies to its limits. I am extremely proud of the team and grateful to our investors, our partners and of course our community of dedicated and passionate players.”

That, of course, means that Solaris: Offworld Combat 2, which was announced earlier this year, has been cancelled.