The Order: 1886 and God of War developer Ready at Dawn has reportedly been closed down by parent company Meta, with employees apparently being encouraged to apply elsewhere in the company.
That’s according to a report by Android Central, which in turn cites an “internal memo sent to employees”. Per the memo, which was apparently written by Meta’s Oculus VP Gio Hunt, Meta’s budget for its VR-based Reality Labs division is set to be slashed by 20% by 2026, and Ready at Dawn’s closure is part of that initiative.
A Meta spokesperson subsequently told Android Central that rather than being made to “save money”, these cuts were, in fact, part of ensuring that Oculus can make a “better long-term impact” in the world of VR gaming.
As Android Central points out, Meta’s second-quarter earnings report was released last week, and during an earnings call, the company said that its Quest 3 headset was “exceeding…expectations” in sales terms, so Ready at Dawn’s closure might seem like it’s strangely-timed in relation to that announcement.
Still, the company’s shuttering comes at a time when many studios are either being closed or are suffering heavy layoffs; recently, studios as diverse as Bungie, EA, and Palia developer Singularity 6 have all been hit by layoffs, while companies like Elex developer Piranha Bytes (reportedly) have been shut down outright.
Ready at Dawn’s is a long and storied history. The studio opened back in 2003, when it was founded by several former Naughty Dog employees. In that light, its first game, 2006’s PSP platformer Daxter, makes a lot of sense, and the studio would go on to work on more games for Sony, including two God of War PSP titles.
Perhaps the studio’s biggest project prior to being purchased by Oculus in 2020 was 2015’s The Order: 1886, a third-person steampunk adventure for the PS4.
It was received with a certain ambivalence at launch, but there are many who believe the game is worth revisiting. If you want to read more about why some think The Order: 1886 was misaligned, you can do so right here.
