Hours after Meta said thousands of layoffs were to come, it appears two of its game studios were affected. Now-former employees at developers Downpour Interactive and Ready at Dawn have said they were among those cut by the tech giant.
"Ready at Dawn was a wonderful studio full of incredible people," wrote one ex-staffer. "If you see anyone from M*ta (and Ready at Dawn in particular) looking for positions, please signal boost them."
Meta acquired the California-based Ready at Dawn in 2020. Before and after that acquisition, it's made various VR games such as Lone Echo II and Echo VR, the latter of which will shut down in August. In 2021, Meta acquired Downpour, which created the 2017 VR shooter Onward.
Staff were told by Meta this morning that employees would be notified about who was being let go. At the time, a specific division believed to be impacted was Reality Labs, the makers of the Quest VR headsets and other mixed reality products such as Oculus.
The new string of cuts are part of Meta's attempts to restructure its teams and management hierarchies. In addition to its game developers and Reality Labs, cuts are expected at the company's Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram divisions.
Last month, Meta announced it would be laying off 10,000 employees after previously cutting 11,000 back in November 2022. Earlier this week, it confirmed plans to make its upcoming Horizon Worlds platform available for teens aged 13-17.
my choice words are that i cannot disparage M*ta so let me just say that Ready at Dawn was a wonderful studio full of incredible people. i genuinely learned a ton, including from one co-worker in particular, who i will be eternally grateful toward.
— Colin McInerney (@ColinMcInerror) April 19, 2023