Facebook shuns VR content creation with closure of Oculus Story Studio
Facebook has turned its back on efforts to develop in-house virtual reality content with the closure of Oculus Story Studio, marking a shift in strategy which will see it focus more on investing in the efforts of others.
Facebook shuns VR content creation with closure of Oculus Story Studio
This marks a significant reversal in policy since October when chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, one of the chief evangelists for VR, boasted of investing $250m in content with plans to splurge a quarter of a billion more in an effort to keep Rift and Gear VR owners engaged with their headsets.
Announcing the tactical retreat Oculus VP of Content Jason Rubin commented: “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to shift our focus away from internal content creation to support more external production. As part of that shift, we’ll be winding down Story Studio.”
Unfortunately this will entail the loss of 50 jobs and the cancelation of ongoing projects such as The Wolves in the Walls, ending a short but critically well received series of productions led by the Emmy award winning animated short Henry.
To replace this content Rubin will set aside $50m to invest in non-gaming, interactive VR content.