Meta has officially shuttered three of its internal VR developers—Twisted Pixel, Sanzaru Games, and Armature Studio—marking a significant contraction within its Reality Labs division. These closures come as part of a broader wave of layoffs hitting the company’s virtual reality and augmented reality sectors. All three studios had been absorbed by Meta over the last half-decade to bolster its first-party VR catalog.
As first reported by Bloomberg, the tech giant is slashing more than 1,000 roles across Reality Labs. With a total headcount of approximately 15,000, this reduction impacts roughly 10% of the division’s workforce. Impacted developers from all three studios took to social platforms this week to confirm the news. According to a spokesperson speaking to Engadget, Meta is pivotally shifting resources away from pure “metaverse” products in favor of AI-integrated wearables and mobile functionality.
“Last month, we signaled a shift in our investment strategy from the Metaverse toward Wearables,” the spokesperson explained. “These closures are a direct result of that transition, allowing us to reinvest in the expansion of our hardware ecosystem this year.”
The loss of these studios represents the end of several storied legacies. Sanzaru Games, established in 2006 and acquired by Meta in 2020, was the architect behind the Asgard’s Wrath franchise, including the award-winning 2023 sequel. Before its VR focus, the studio was widely recognized for its work on the Sly Cooper series, most notably Thieves in Time and The Sly Collection.
Twisted Pixel, which joined Meta in 2022, was a staple of the Xbox Live Arcade era. The team earned critical acclaim for inventive titles like ‘Splosion Man, The Maw, and The Gunstringer. Under Meta, they transitioned into VR with Wilson’s Heart and the recent Marvel’s Deadpool VR.
Armature Studio, founded in 2008 by former Metroid Prime developers, initially specialized in high-quality handheld ports like the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection for Vita. They later gained notoriety for the action-adventure title ReCore. Since their 2022 acquisition, Armature’s standout contribution was the lauded VR adaptation of Resident Evil 4 for Meta Quest headsets.
This consolidation mirrors the 2024 closure of Ready At Dawn, the studio behind Lone Echo. While these moves signal a retreat from internal development, Meta maintains that it is not abandoning the gaming space. In a memo obtained by Bloomberg, Oculus Studios director Tamara Sciamanna stated that the company is moving toward a third-party publishing model to ensure “long-term sustainability” for its gaming ecosystem.
