VR dev Wimo Games has closed down

Wimo Games, a developer for mobile and VR titles, officially closed its doors last week. Around three dozen staff were said to have been laid off in the end.

In a statement to RockPaperShotgun, CEO Dave Rosen confirmed his company's closure. “It’s been an incredible three years working with this fantastic team," he said, "and this is not the outcome we had hoped for."

Wimo first opened in 2021, and is best known for the VR games Battle Bows and Micro Machines: Mini Challenge Mayhem. It also released RPG Dice: Heroes of Whitestone for mobile phones in 2022.

Speaking to those three games, Rosen said the studio was "grateful to each and every player that bought the games our team poured so much of their hard work into."

Wimo is the third indie studio to close this month, following Threaks and Double Loop. Similarly, German studio Piranha Bytes could close if its owner Embracer can't find someone to buy it.

January 2024 has already seen some sizable layoffs throughout the industry. Discord, CI Games, and Thunderful have all cut staff this month.

An estimated 10,000 developers were laid off in 2023. February hasn't arrived yet, and we're already at a little over one-third of that total.