Meta and its child-studio Prepared at Daybreak immediately introduced plans to close down the favored free-to-play multiplayer recreation Echo VR, with plans to show off severs come August 1st.
Echo VR has had a storied journey, having initially launched as an Oculus Rift unique title all the way in which again in 2017. In 2020 the sport made the leap to Quest, permitting cross-play multiplayer between Rift and Quest gamers. Shortly thereafter, Meta introduced that it had acquired the sport’s developer, Prepared at Daybreak.
And although it stands as one of many best-rated and hottest free titles on the Quest retailer, Meta has introduced it plans to close the sport down for good on August 1st. In line with the announcement from Prepared at Daybreak, the principle purpose behind the deliberate shuttering is as a result of the studio is “coming collectively to concentrate on our subsequent challenge.”
Though not talked about particularly, it’s laborious to think about that the broader layoffs at Meta (and different main tech corporations) has nothing to do with the announcement. Particularly contemplating that Prepared at Daybreak launched its final recreation, Lone Echo II, greater than a yr in the past; ostensibly the studio has been effectively at work on its “subsequent challenge” for fairly a while now.
Along with being one of many platform’s hottest free multiplayer video games, Echo VR additionally had one of the sturdy in-app buy choices of any VR title thus far, with a battlepass-style system that allowed gamers to pay for the prospect to unlock beauty rewards over the course of seven seasons. Sadly the studio has confirmed that refunds for in-game content material is not going to be provided.
As a parting reward, at the very least, the studio says gamers who play the sport between now and when it shuts down will obtain a heap of premium beauty gadgets without spending a dime:
From now till August 1, 2023, play only one match of both Echo Fight or Enviornment to unlock:
- All Epic + Very good rarity chassis/booster/bracer units from Echo Move seasons 1–6
Season 7 rewards to be launched at a later date- All Chassis Variants
- All non-3D rewards from Echo Move seasons 1–6
Season 7 rewards to be launched at a later date- All Echo Store gadgets
Together with Starter Bundle- All earlier occasion rewards
- Some beforehand unreleased rewards
The next rewards will NOT be included within the occasion
- VRML rewards
- LE2 Chassis
- Legendary rarity chassis/booster/bracer units from the earlier 7 seasons
- Leveling Monitor Rewards
Leveling Monitor
- We are going to now be granting all leveling monitor gadgets at lvl 1 so everybody features entry to those rewards with out impacting matchmaking high quality.
Echo Store
- We are going to place all legendary chassis/booster/bracer units on the market on the Echo Store at decreased costs till the sport shuts down.
And final however not least, Prepared at Daybreak confirmed that Echo Fight, the lesser-played FPS variant of the sport (which by no means made the leap to Quest) can even be shutting down as of August 1st, and is already not obtainable for buy.