Meta CTO explains the shutting down of Echo VR

Meta announced last week that it will be discontinuing Echo VR, one of the popular virtual reality (VR) game, on August 1.  

The news sparked a criticism among fans and “Save Echo VR” started trending on Twitter with an online petition that forced Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth to come up with more information on why the company is discontinuing the game.  

According to a report by Metaverse Post, Bosworth expressed his sadness and understanding for the community in a blog post about the shutdown. He explained that Echo VR is not the “the right place” to spend the company's resources, but the CTO acknowledged that it “was a huge part of the evolution of virtual reality multiplayer, a community-based game.” Echo VR, however, saw a decline in usage and interest as time went on.  

Bosworth notes that there is effort involved in maintaining the status quo, and that this is not from a financial return-on-investment perspective; rather, the resources may be put to better use elsewhere, benefiting the tens of millions of people who are now engaged in VR, The Verge reported.  

Additionally, he said that the regulatory limitations of Meta increase the cost of maintenance.  

The final day for playing Echo VR is August 1 at 1PM Eastern Time, after which the servers will be turned down permanently, as per the blog post.  

He further implied that the studio now coming together to work on their next project. While no further details were shared, however, he said that everyone involved is quite enthusiastic and eager to get to work.