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Ready at Dawn Studios<\/a>, the game studio behind the Echo <\/em>virtual reality series for the Meta Quest, has been shut down by its parent owner, Meta, effective immediately.<\/p>\n Android Central<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>reported Meta\u2019s decision to close Ready at Dawn Studios almost a year and a half after purchasing the game studio. The news comes on the heels of a mid-July report<\/a> that Meta plans to cut its Reality Labs division\u2019s budget by 20 percent by 2026 when it is reportedly scheduled to release the Meta Quest 4 and Quest 4s, its next VR headsets.<\/p>\n Ready at Dawn\u2019s reach in the gaming industry goes all the way back to the days of Sony\u2019s PlayStation Portable (PSP). The studio released its first game in 2006 with Daxter, a PSP spinoff of the popular Jak and Daxter <\/em>series. Ready at Dawn also released three titles in Sony\u2019s God of War<\/em> series<\/a> for the PSP including Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Spart<\/em>a and the Olympus Collection<\/em> that bundled its two earlier titles. The studio made the jump to consoles starting with the PlayStation 4 in 2015 with The Order: 1886<\/em><\/a>. The Victorian-era third-person action adventure became one of the year\u2019s most anticipated titles for its boundary pushing graphics. Following a wave of mixed reviews, Ready at Dawn took a stab at a multiplayer title with a cheerier disposition in 2017 called De-Formers<\/em><\/a> for the PS4, Xbox One and PC. Engadget\u00a0<\/em>senior editor Jessica Conditt described the colorful character combat competition as \u201ccannibalism combat in a 3-D cartoon.\u201d<\/p>\n The rise of and ease of access to virtual reality prompted the studio to pivot again in 2018 to the new immersive game medium. The studio released the first two VR titles in its Echo <\/em>game series including the free-to-play Oculus Rift and Quest virtual sport Echo Arena<\/em><\/a> and the interactive, gravity-free sci-fi adventure Lone Echo<\/em><\/a>. Both found a fanbase on the all-in-one VR headset leading to sequels including the free-floating arena shooter Echo Combat <\/em>in 2018 and Lone Echo II<\/em><\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n Oculus bought the studio<\/a> in 2023 and allowed it to continue operations in its California and Oregon offices. The same year, Meta shut down its free Echo<\/em> VR game due to dwindling player numbers.<\/p>\n