Immediate Dart Video games Downsizes Workforce as VR Industry Braces for Uncertain Year Ahead

Image courtesy of Fast Travel Games.

Fast Travel Games CEO Oskar Burman announced that 30 positions were eliminated at the VR studio.

According to the studio’s announcement, the layoffs mainly affect its publishing, management, and marketing teams. Conversely, Fast Travel itself will now be streamlined into a single development team.

Fast Travel released six games, including Band House and Mannequin, scheduled to launch in 2024 for various VR systems like the Meta Quest and PlayStation VR2. The company reported that all six titles experienced “lower than anticipated sales,” and cited the layoffs were further prompted by a “more uncertain year” for VR games overall.

“This is an incredibly tough choice,” the statement says, “but we believe it’s crucial to ensure a stable and sustainable future for the organization.”

This marks the second round of layoffs this week, following the news that Bold developer Phoenix Labs laid off the majority of its staff, along with Ubisoft closing a studio in Leamington and reducing positions across other UK teams.

A tumultuous past and uncertain future for VR

VR faced challenges in 2024 as hardware struggled to gain significant traction, or in Meta’s case, was discontinued.

Additionally, there’s the issue of fewer developers available to create VR games: Ready at Dawn, known for the Echo series for the Quest headsets, has shut down. Other developers like XR Games have also let go of staff after restructuring.
Earlier in January, FuturLab ceased support for Powerwash Simulator’s VR version. The studio explained that while it still sees potential in the medium, continuing with that specific title was no longer a profitable venture.

Fast Travel Games also publishes VR titles, one of which is set to release later this year: Moonhood’s The Listless Night Walk.

About the Author