VR studio Archiact, best known for games like Doom 3: VR Edition and Journey to Foundation, has officially shut down.
In a post on its official LinkedIn page, Archiact said that it informed its staff of the studio’s closure yesterday. The company will officially close its doors in two weeks, according to the post.
Archiact goes on to trace an outline of its journey from inception to closure. The studio was started in 2013 and was involved with publishing more than 35 games, as well as developing VR and mixed reality titles itself.
As well as Doom 3‘s VR port and Journey to Foundation, other VR games Archiact worked on include “augmented reality experience” Marvel Dimension of Heroes, VR diving game Freediver: Triton Down, and “sci-fi bullet-hell shooter” Evasion.
Sadly, this isn’t the first we’ve heard of Archiact experiencing some problems. Back in January, Archiact laid off an undisclosed number of staff, a decision the studio said was not taken lightly.
Archiact’s closure is part of a wider trend in the industry right now, one that involves a lot of layoffs and studio closures across both the triple-A and indie spaces. It seems that no studio, however successful, is safe from the swinging scythe of this wave of layoffs.
Other smaller indie studios hit by layoffs or closures include I Am Bread developer Bossa, Palia studio Singularity 6 (which was recently acquired by MMO giant Daybreak), and Disco Elysium developer ZA/UM, among others.
On the industry’s AAA side, studios hit by layoffs and closures recently include Destiny 2 developer Bungie, its parent company Sony, and EA, again among many others.
The reasons for these layoffs are far-reaching; some studios can’t get funding for in-development projects, while others are being mismanaged or are dealing with overhiring as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
One thing’s for sure, though; we haven’t heard the last of this wave of industry layoffs and studio closures yet. Stay tuned for more.
