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Exclusive: Meta is closing a beloved first-party Quest studio

Echo VR developer Ready at Dawn Studios is now closed for business.

www.androidcentral.com

What you need to know​

• Ready at Dawn Studios, part of Oculus Studios, is closing permanently, effective immediately.
• The studio produced some of the highest-rated VR games ever, including Lone Echo, Lone Echo 2, and Echo VR, as well as some PSP classics like God of War and Daxter.
• Meta says that Ready at Dawn employees are encouraged to apply to other studios within the Oculus Studios umbrella.
• The reduction was made to meet the new Reality Labs budgetary ceiling rather than as a proactive cost-saving initiative.

 

[IFireflyl]

We did it, GAF!

 

[SJRB]

I had no idea Ready at Dawn operated under the Meta umbrella but still RIP to a real one.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

I'll save my Jack Nicholson slow nod gif for another developer. This one is a bummer.

 

[Draugoth]

Ther studio has been in limbo for years, shame

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Doh! Playstation should grab them for sequel to The Order and VR games . . .

 

[skit_data]

Always felt a bit odd that they sold to Meta, Playstation would've been a more natural fit. Guess it didn't work out.

 

[semiconscious]

i hope the meta money made it worth it. godspeed...

 

[Punished Miku]

Ready at Dawn Dusk

 

[Badlucktroll]

 

[GHG]

Always felt a bit odd that they sold to Meta, Playstation would've been a more natural fit. Guess it didn't work out.

They wanted to dedicate themselves to VR so it was the only fit that made sense at the time. In fact, I'd say that still remains to be true for any team that wants to focus on VR.

Same it didn't work out, they've done some good work there.

 

[Hollowpoint5557]

Who didn't see this coming?

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Unprepared at Sunset? Gonna need to workshop it.

RIP in peace dev team, you were good and a top heavy industry killed you.

 

[SunnySideGuy]

Welp cant say I'm surprised. That's what happens when you sell your company to a mega corp for money. What a fuckin sad end to a talented group of devs

 

[Puscifer]

Doh! Playstation should grab them for sequel to The Order and VR games . . .

They wouldn't have allowed Meta to grab them to begin if they cared TBH

 

[Deft Beck]

That's a shame. They had a shaky reputation for a while, but they seemed to find their calling in VR.

 

[dottme]

I know the order wasn’t perfect, but there was potential. I don’t know what they’ve done behind the scene, but they were in free fall for some time.

 

[Reaseru]

Ready to go Down.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

Just fuck you Meta

Adios the hope of The Order 1886 Part II and its fantastic lore and universe...

 

[Magic Carpet]

I've got a Quest 3 and I've not hear about Lone Echo. WTH?

 

[Draugoth]

They had an incredible studio and used them to make VR games.

 

[LordCBH]

Damn this fucking sucks. RAD deserves far better than shitass Facebook….

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

From Dawn till Dusk.

 

[Black_Stride]

Viking funeral for all that talent.

 

[CosmicComet]

Terrible trajectory.

The Order's performance ruined them.

Talented guys all around.

 

[Labadal]

Of their gamea, I only played the PSP God of War games. Quite impressive for portable games.

 

[cash_longfellow]

RIP The Order 1887.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Cool, now take the RAD remnants, make a splinter group and kickstart The Order 1887

I'll pay

 

[Agent X]

This is sad news. Ready at Dawn's PSP games in particular were fantastic.

 

[Bartski]

 

[Wonko_C]

I've got a Quest 3 and I've not hear about Lone Echo. WTH?

They released on Meta's PC storefront only. It was rumored both games were being ported to the Quest platform. Now that rumor looks less likely.

If you have a VR-capable gaming PC, go grab both Lone Echo I & II, they're their best games ever by far, and that includes all the stuff they did for PlayStation.

They had an incredible studio and used them to mkae VR games.

According to a post above, they themselves wanted to make VR games so they went to Meta.

Their VR games were even better than everything they did before. It's like RAD finally found what they wanted to make. But Meta kept treating them like a red-headed stepchild.

 

[BouncyFrag]

F

 

[fart town usa]

Fucking Sony. Funding shit like concord and buying the devs, buying bungie but they threw away Ready at Dawn.

 

[skyfinch]

I blame Series S.

 

[proandrad]

We will never get a ps5 patch for the order.

 

[Danjin44]

With Order 1886 Ready at Dawn made a mistake solely focusing on graphics and making actual gameplay afterthought.

Still shame, I like their PSP games a lot.

 

[Wonko_C]

Just a reminder of the other studios they have. Sanzaru (Asgard's Wrath) worked on PlayStation games like Sly Cooper, Camouflaj (Iron Man VR, Batman Arkham Shadow) members worked on Metal Gear Solid 4, and Armature (Resident Evil 4 VR Edition) was founded by former Retro Studios directors who worked on the Metroid Prime series.

 

[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Shame. They had a lot of potential but got lost in VR/Facebook purgatory.

 

[Fbh]

This studio had such an uneven trajectory, went from making beloved PSP games to failing with the Order and then finding critical but not commercial success in the VR space
Hopefully most of them can be accommodated in other meta studios.

They released on Meta's PC storefront only. It was rumored both games were being ported to the Quest platform. Now that rumor looks less likely.

If you have a VR-capable gaming PC, go grab both Lone Echo I & II, they're their best games ever by far, and that includes all the stuff they did for PlayStation.

Man that sucks, it's why I still think all the major companies in the VR space should do more to work together. I know they all want to sell stuff on their own store but that only seems to work if you have a successful and high selling product like the iPhone or Playstation. This whole exclusivity thing when you end up only selling your stuff to a niche audience within a niche market doesn't seem to be working out.
Games like Lone Echo should be on Steam, PSVR, Metaquest, etc instead of locked to a single PC storefront.

 

[WorldHero]

Shame we never got a sequel to The Order. It had the bones to be a great franchise.

 

[LectureMaster]

Shame, I actually enjoyed the order. Mind-blowing graphics at the time, the story was not too shabby.

 

[Ceadeus]

Aw man that SUCKS. I liked most of their games. Very talented people. I've always bought their stuff even on VR.

 

[GermanZepp]

Why you always post the same shitty gif?

 

[skit_data]

Edit: This is new info afaik. Makes it sting even more for fans of The Order I imagine.

 

[Mr Hyde]

RIP

The Order wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. Sucks we never got a sequel.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Why you always post the same shitty gif?

He is a troll, mute him and move on

Andrea Pessino Sorry man but now join forces with one of the big fishes and make that sequel to The Order we need

Thanks

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Fucking Sony. Funding shit like concord and buying the devs, buying bungie but they threw away Ready at Dawn.

Exactly! People are slowly starting to realize just how bad Sony has been this gen compared to last as far as single player games goes. As more and more gaas failures come and go and we wait and wait for first party games.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Should have been shelved after The Odor 1886

 

[tmlDan]

This is BS, i wanted The Order 2, damn you Meta, you suck ass.

 

[SlimySnake]

I loved their GOW games, but The Order just didnt click for me despite the mind blowing graphics. The lack of skippable cutscenes ruined replay value, and the constant walking sections just made it feel like a walking simulator like hellblade even though it actually has a lot more combat sequences with some fairly decent mechanics.

I think they went too far with the filmic approach which is probably why sony ditched them. Their GOW games were a perfect blend of cinematics and action. This felt like 70% walking cinematics and 30% action when it shouldve been the other way around. unhcarted 1, Uncharted 3, most CoD campaigns are all 7-8 hours long but they didnt feel this walky and talky.

I still think sony shouldve given them another shot. one mistake shouldnt define a studio. But i honestly dont know why they sold themselves to meta instead. I guess the money was good.