Meta, the tech giant behind the world’s most used social media services and virtual reality games, has begun to lot wide swathe of developers. With 10,000 expected total job cuts, the impact of these layoffs can be seen in teams for Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Meta’s Reality Labs division, which works on its virtual reality tech. But even the gaming studios working on Meta’s beloved VR titles were not spared from their CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” measures.
Meta owns nine separate game studios, having acquired four last year. It has since been revealed that staff at two of those studios, Ready at Dawn and Downpour Interactive, have gotten the boot. This confirmed reports that the company would not be targetting its game studios for layoffs. Colin McInerney, a designer at Ready at Dawn, tweeted this unfortunate news, while Daan van Zelst, a level designer at Downpour, hinted at Wednesday being “the toughest day” of his career.
According to an internal memo from Bloomberg, the cuts were going to impact its social media apps as well as Reality Labs. This initial set of 4000 cuts is just the first step in Meta’s second round of job reductions since the first one in November last year. It seems CEO Zuckerberg’s promise of no more cuts this year won’t come true, with 3000 more employees set to be cut on May 22.
When it comes to the details of the game studios, Ready at Dawn are best known for their work in Echo VR, a virtual reality first-person shooter. Earlier this year Meta made the decision to close the servers used by Echo in August. Downpour is the studio behind Onward, a virtual reality military simulator which was acquired by Meta, then Facebook, in 2021. The studio released a major 1.10 update for the title this past February.
Despite the significant cuts, Bloomberg confirmed that those remaining on these decimated teams will be reassigned elsewhere. Although Meta is not the only big tech company making big budget cuts, the focus on Artificial Intelligence in the Reality Labs has been amplified this past year. This is according to Meta’s Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who told Nikkei Asia that the company is now shifting focus to the “commercialization” of AI.
Overall, Meta’s mass layoffs continue to take a toll on virtual reality developers and game studios alike. While the world awaits with uncertainty, those affected can take comfort in knowing that those who remain on these decimated teams may be reassigned and still have a chance of continuing their work.
