According to reports from Android Central, The Order: 1886 developer Ready At Dawn has been shuttered by its parent company Meta. Citing an internal memo obtained by the site, Ready At Dawn will close effective immediately as part of a wider restructuring within Meta to streamline its VR efforts. Android Central reports having spoken to a representative from Meta who tells them that the closure of Ready At Dawn was done to ensure Reality Labs, Meta’s struggling in-house VR development push, stays within new budgetary constraints and can have a “better long-term impact” in the VR space.
While the Meta spokesperson goes on to say that this does not signal the coming of broader job losses within the company, the news does follow a devastating trend of closures and lay-offs sweeping the video game industry and isn’t even the first time lay-offs have hit Ready At Dawn. Last year up to 4,000 employees at Meta were impacted by job losses, seemingly leaving Ready At Dawn with a skeleton crew low enough to mean today’s news would not even trigger the California WARN Act which comes into effect in the event of layoffs that impact more than 50 workers.
It is dire news for the 2003 founded studio which saw developers from the hallowed halls of Blizzard and Naughty Dog come together to work with PlayStation on God of War and Daxter PSP titles before hitting the mainstage with the PS4 launch title, The Order: 1886. Despite some middling reviews, the game has experienced something of a critical re-evaluation over the decade (at least within WellPlayed) but the studio moved to primarily VR development with 2017’s Lone Echo, catching the eye of Meta who acquired the studio in 2020.
Even with positive critical and player reception to its VR titles, Ready At Dawn is just the latest victim of Meta’s Reality Labs crisis. After posting a $3.8 billion loss during its first quarter, Meta only recently announced a second quarter loss of a following $4.5 billion. Despite this, and to no comfort to those impacted by today’s layoffs, Meta has reportedly told Android Central that Ready At Dawn developers can still apply for other roles within Reality Labs. Cool.
Vale, Ready At Dawn. Thank you for The Order: 1886.
What was your favourite Ready At Dawn title? Are you weirded out by calls to action on horrible news? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and on social media.
One part pretentious academic and one part goofy dickhead, James is often found defending strange games and frowning at the popular ones, but he's happy to play just about everything in between. An unbridled love for FromSoftware's pantheon, a keen eye for vibes first experiences, and an insistence on the Oxford comma have marked his time in the industry.
