Meta may be rethinking its approach to third-party app funding, as the company has reportedly cut funds to some outside VR game developers whilst reshifting its focus to non-gaming apps.

According to a report from The Information, Meta is becoming “more discriminating” in how it spends to stock its Horizon Store for Quest.

Citing unnamed Meta staffers, the company has reportedly cut funding for some outside app developers amid a wider shift to fund apps that have seen comparatively better traction. The Information maintains Meta is hoping to boost “lifestyle apps,” such as fashion, beauty and music. Funding for these apps is said to arrive at some point via an accelerator that grants seed-stage funding.

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Meanwhile, The Information has cited two VR developers that have taken a hit as a result, requiring them to slash staff numbers following the funding pull.

Netherlands-based studio Monks has reportedly halved its team of 100 people, which was creating content for the company’s Horizon Worlds social app. France-based Atlas V, known for work on Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway (2023) and Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom (20240, has also apparently cut half of its team, according to The Information report.

This follows Meta’s shutdown of first-party VR studio Ready at Dawn in August, creators of the Lone Echo franchise and Echo VR.

A few months prior, the studio concluded a protracted legal battle with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to acquire Within, the studio behind popular VR fitness app Supernatural.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Star Centurion

    Trusting Meta to keep up your funding per a previous agreement is an exercise in futility.

    Even if they're the only XR company directly funding VR devs, they seem untrustworthy to work with.

    Sure beats Sony's and Valve's 3rd party VR funding, but those are an incredibly low bar to clear.

  • Hussain X

    It's hard to know which VR games to fund these days. You could be funding a high budget AAA stealth game from a well known IP like from the Assasin's Creed franchise, only for a lot more people preferring another stealth game, "I Am Cat". They'd rather become a stealth cat inside a granny's house and parkour inside a house than become a stealth assassin in a much bigger and better designed worlds and parkour the vast buildings there.