Meta Ceases Onward Development & Merges Downpour Into Camouflaj

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Downpour Interactive has been merged into Batman: Arkham Shadow studio Camouflaj as Meta ends development of Onward.Less than three months after the major Onward 2.0 launch, Downpour Interactive confirmed no further updates are coming. Onward will continue to be available across Steam, Quest and Link, but it won't receive further developer support beyond critical bug fixes. There's no longer a dedicated support team, and the studio advises contacting Quest or Steam support for any technical issues.Following its acquisition by Meta (then Facebook) back in 2021, Downpour Interactive marks the latest first party studio closure after Ready at Dawn shut down last year. However, Downpour's team has been “permanently” merged into another first party studio, Iron Man VR and Batman: Arkham Shadow studio Camouflaj.Meta Laid Off Staff In Acquired VR Game StudiosMeta laid off “many” employees at Echo VR’s developer Ready at Dawn and Onward’s developer Downpour Interactive.UploadVRDavid HeaneyInitially launched in 2016 on Steam, Onward was one of the longest running VR multiplayer games that continued receiving active support. A Quest version arrived in 2020, the game continued receiving content updates, and Mark Zuckerberg seemingly confirmed Onward 2 in 2021. While today's announcement doesn't indicate new layoffs, the studio was previously affected back in 2023, one month after former CEO Dante Buckley resigned.Following a handful of smaller updates, Onward 2.0 then delivered the multiplayer shooter's biggest update yet back in March. That introduced a major graphical overhaul across weapons and equipment, a new co-op game mode, 13 new weapons, a brand-new map, an operator system for customizing your character model, and more.Onward Update 2.0 Is Out Now, Overhauling Every WeaponOnward Update 2.0 is out now, bringing a graphical overhaul of every weapon and item, new weapons, a remastered classic map, a new map, and more.UploadVRDavid HeaneyFor now, Onward remains available on the Meta Horizon Store for Quest, Meta's PC Store for Link & Rift, and Steam. We'll keep you informed should that change.