While Meta hasn’t offered a statement on the lay-offs, it confirmed to Kotaku that the studio hasn’t been shut down like Armature Studios, Twisted Pixel and Sanzaru Games, despite its team having been essentially gutted.

Citing anonymous former Meta employees, the report states that Camouflaj has essentially been gutted, with “just a handful of employees” remaining at the studio. The team has been described as working on “the new user experience for upcoming hardware.” The lay-offs have also included heads of the studio, including founder Ryan Payton.

Camouflaj was founded all the way back in 2011, and made a name for itself thanks to its stealth-based action adventure game République. After having brought the game to a variety of platforms from mobile to consoles, the studio would then sign a deal with Marvel Games to work on Iron Man VR, which came out in 2020 on PS4’s PlayStationVR, and Meta’s Quest 2 headsets and above.

Former senior animator at the studio Kaitlin S. took to LinkedIn to talk about being laid off. “I was a part of the recent Meta lay-offs that hit Camouflaj,” wrote Kaitlin. “It’s been an incredible 12+ years with the team, and I am so proud of what we accomplished in that time! I will miss the Camouflaj team a great deal. It was an incredible group of game devs.”

The last major release by Camouflaj was Batman: Arkham Shadow, which was released in 2024 exclusively for the Meta Quest 3 and 3S headsets. The title is a first-person action adventure game that pits players, in the role of Batman, against the Rat King. It features combat systems based on the Batman: Arkham series, and brings in other elements from Rocksteady’s franchise as well, including Detective Vision and stealth sections. Gadgets like batarangs, the grapple gun and smoke bombs also make a comeback.

Camouflaj is one of several studios to have fallen victim to Meta’s decision to shift its investments over from its development on the “Metaverse” to wearable technology. Due to this, around 10,000 workers at Meta have been laid off, the company’s Reality Labs division also being hit quite heavily. “We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year,” said a spokesperson for the company.

While Camouflaj remains open to function in some capacity, Sanzaru Games, Armature Studio, and Twisted Pixel have been officially shut down. These studios had worked on a number of major projects for Meta’s Quest headsets, including the Asgard’s Wrath series, the VR port of the classic Resident Evil 4, and Marvel’s Deadpool VR. The three studios had a history of working on a number of smaller projects before they started making VR games, with Armature Studios and Sanzaru Games even having worked with Sony on bringing over some of its older titles to at-the-time modern platforms like the PS3 and PS Vita.

Interestingly, the studio closure comes in light of a recent Bloomberg report that reveals that Meta is also making larger cuts throughout its Reality Labs division. These lay-offs are set to affect more than 1,000 employees at the company. Reality Labs is the main division for Meta’s various VR efforts, including the Quest headsets and the company’s game development studios.

It is worth noting that Meta had initially acquired Armature Studios and Twisted Pixel, along with Camouflaj, all the way back in 2022. The company had acquired Sanzaru Games back in 2020. While Armature Studios hadn’t released a game since 2019’s Quest port of Resident Evil 4, Twisted Pixel had released the Quest 3 and Quest 3S-exclusive Marvel’s Deadpool VR just last year.

It’s currently unknown what these studio closures mean for Meta’s Reality Labs division, be it the fate of future Quest headsets or exclusive titles. In a statement, the company noted that this was part of a move to focus more of its investments on wearable technology.

“We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year,” said a spokesperson for Meta.

Armature Studios had done quite a bit of prolific work with various major companies before it started focusing its efforts on VR games. It was known for its partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment, having worked on ports for Sony’s platforms. These include the PlayStation Vita ports for Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and Injustice: Gods Among Us, and multiplatform ports for Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. The studio has also previously worked with Microsoft on the 2016 adventure game ReCore for PC and Xbox One.

Sanzaru Games, on the other hand, is known for many projects over the years. Before VR, the studio had worked on titles like the PS3 remastered release The Sly Collection and PS Vita ports for games like God of War Collection and The Sly Collection. It had even worked on spin-off titles like Secret Agent Clank on PS2, and even the fourth game in the Sly Cooper franchise, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, back in 2013.

The studio first began a relationship with Meta when it worked on titles like Ripcoil, VR Sports Challenge and Tron RUN/r back in 2016. The studio would catch Meta’s attention in a major way thanks to its VR-based action RPG Asgard’s Wrath, which was released on the Oculus Rift in 2019. A couple of years after its acquisition, the studio would release Asgard’s Wrath 2, which is considered by many to be one of the most ambitious VR titles released on Meta’s Quest headsets.

Twisted Pixel wasn’t as prolific with releases before its extensive VR work. However, the studio was well-known for its action platforming game ‘Splosion Man, as well as unique titles like LocoCycle and The Gunstringer. Its final release before being shut down was Marvel’s Deadpool VR.

The goal of the Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition is to provide a new avenue to experience Xbox titles (rather than suddenly delving into VR gaming). With the Xbox app, you can essentially stream them via Xbox Cloud Gaming, included in Game Pass Ultimate. These include The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, Avowed, South of Midnight and other supported games.

Cross-play and cross-progression are also supported and carry over to other devices (including Microsoft’s own console, the Xbox Series X/S). The Meta Quest 3S Xbox Edition includes 128 GB of storage, Touch Plus controllers, a limited edition Xbox Wireless Controller, an “Elite” strap, and three-month subscriptions to Meta Horizon+ and Game Pass Ultimate. It also supports the use of devices like the Xbox Adaptive Controller via Bluetooth.

You can order the headset via Meta’s official website or from participating retailers like Best Buy in the US. However, “Quantities are extremely limited. Once they’re gone, they’re gone,” says Microsoft.

On the official webpage for the Quest Pro, Meta now confirms that the device is no longer for sale, with a message on the page redirecting users to purchasing the Quest 3 “for the ultimate mixed reality experience and premium comfort.”

The Quest Pro launched worldwide in October 2022, retailing for $1,499.99. Criticism was directed at its high launch price. However, other factors, such as its mixed reality features and lack of strong early software support, were also noted as concerning. The device’s quick death isn’t a huge shock, especially with the VR market shrinking by the day.

In a statement provided to IGN, Meta has confirmed that it has suspended development of GTA: San Andreas VR indefinitely.

“GTA: San Andreas is on hold indefinitely while we both focus on other projects. We look forward to working with our friends at Rockstar in the future,” a Meta spokesperson said.

There’s no word on whether the companies intend to revive the project at any point down the line, but for now, it doesn’t look like San Andreas VR is going to see the light of day- or if it does, it will not be anytime soon.

It also remains to be seen what this means for Take-Two Interactive’s future plans in the VR space. The company has expressed interest in expanding its VR presence in the past, though with San Andreas VR’s development being put on hold, plans may have changed internally.

Android Central first reported on the studio’s closure, with a spokesperson from Meta confirming it to Gematsu. Design director Robert Duncan has since posted on LinkedIn, affirming that the studio is shutting down. “I’ve been at Ready at Dawn for over ten years, and I am incredibly sad to see this wonderful team I’ve grown to love be broken apart this way.”

Duncan is focused on finding positions for his coworkers. Per Android Central, former staff are reportedly encouraged to apply for positions in Oculus Studios. Meta has yet to officially announce the closure or provide a reason for the same. Ready at Dawn joins the likes of Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and SIE’s London Studio, alongside thousands of other layoffs across the industry. Stay tuned for further updates in the meantime.

The goal of the new ecosystem is to allow for a more open platform for other software and hardware developers to start making things in Meta’s new VR offerings. The new ecosystem also allows for users to be able to carry their identities, avatars, and friend groups across virtual spaces.

As part of the new ecosystem, Meta is teaming up with Asus ROG to develop a new high-performance gaming headset. The company is also teaming up with Lenovo for new mixed-reality devices that will focus more on the non-gaming side of things. And finally, Meta is teaming up with Xbox for a new limited edition Xbox-inspired Meta Quest headset.

How these new headsets will pan out in the long term is yet to be seen, but Asus is riding high off the success of its foray into an emerging section of gaming hardware market with the Asus ROG Ally.

The Quest 3 is due out about two weeks from now, on October 10. It will be available in two variants- a 128 GB model that will be available at the previously announced price of $499.99, and a 512 GB model, which will retail for $649.99.

As previously announced, the Meta Quest 3 boasts the new Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 chipset, which enables a roughly 30% improvement in resolution as compared to the Quest 2. The new headset boasts a slimmer design, faster load times, more customizability and comfort options, and a 40% louder audio range than the Quest 2. Quest 3’s controllers have also been redesigned, and feature haptic feedback and full hand tracking.

Meta Quest 3 will be fully backward compatible with the Quest 2’s library, and will boast a number of improvements when it comes to the hardware, including higher resolution displays, pancake optics, and a next generation Snapdragon chipset developed in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, which will deliver twice the graphical performance of the Quest 2 GPU.

Meta Quest 3 also features a a 40% slimmer optic profile compared to Quest 2 and has a sleeker and more comfortable form factor, while the controllers have also been redesigned for better ergonomics. The outer tracking rings will no longer be used, while the controllers will also feature haptic feedback and full hand tracking.

The headset will also make use of Meta Reality technology, with Meta looking to up its mixed reality offerings as well. That will entail high-fidelity color Passthrough and improved machine learning and spatial understanding, delivering a better MR experience.

A specific release date for the Quest 3 hasn’t been confirmed.

Starting June 4, Meta will also be introducing price decreases for the Quest 2, along with pushing out an update that’ll bring GPU and CPU performance improvements. Read more on that through here.

Starting June 4, the Meta Quest 2 will be sold at lower prices, with the 128 GB model going from $399.99 to $299.99, and the 256 GB model going from $499.99 to $349.99.

Of course, it’s worth noting that prices for both SKUs were increased by $100 in August last year. Even so, though the 128 GB model has effectively returned to its original price, the 256 GB variant is going to be sold for $50 less than it was even before its price increase last year.

Meanwhile, Meta will also be pushing out an update to implement performance improvements for both Quest 2 and Quest Pro. The update will bring about an increase of up to 26% in CPU performance for both VR headsets and an increase in GPU performance of up to 19% for Quest 2 and up to 11% for Quest Pro.

For the layman, that ostensibly means you can look forward to “smoother gameplay, a more responsive UI, and richer content on both headsets”, as Meta puts it. Meanwhile, dynamic resolution scaling is also being enabled on both headsets.