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.
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.