ONE of the biggest virtual reality games on Facebook's Oculus is shutting down forever.
The game was so popular it was even involved in e-sport events.
Echo VR, also known as Echo Arena, is getting axed in a matter of months.
Facebook bought the game's developer, Ready At Dawn, in 2020, after making Echo VR one of its flagship games on the Meta Quest.
The Meta Quest, formerly known as Oculus Quest, is a standalone VR headset that doesn’t require pairing with an expensive PC.
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The game is so popular players have even launched a petition to save it, which has already been signed by more than 16,000 fans.
"It blows my mind then hearing that Meta is allowing one of their top five played Quest games, Echo VR, to simply go away in a puff of smoke," Flat2VR, a group for virtual reality (VR) gamers, said in a statement on Twitter.
Meta will not be offering any refunds on in-app purchases or in-game currency.
The game's developer broke the news in a blog post earlier this week.
Ready At Dawn said that "after many discussions internally and with our partners at Meta" they had made the "difficult decision" to shut down the game.
"By no means was this decision made lightly," the studio said.
"But it was made for many good reasons and chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project.
"We can’t say anything about it yet, but we are all excited and need all hands on deck."
Echo VR will continue running until the morning of August 1, when servers will be shut down and kill the game.
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Players are now being showered in rewards as a peace offering, which will be available until the games shuts down for good.
From now until the beginning of August, users can unlock a raft of goodies by playing just one match of either Echo Combat or Arena.
Players can now access these treats:
- All Epic + Superb rarity chassis/booster/bracer sets from Echo Pass seasons 1–6
- Season 7 rewards to be released at a later date - All Chassis Variants
- All non-3D rewards from Echo Pass seasons 1–6
- Season 7 rewards to be released at a later date - All Echo Shop items
- Including Starter Bundle - All previous event rewards
- Some previously unreleased rewards
"We wanted to show all our players how much we’ve appreciated their support over the past few years," Ready At Dawn added.
"Sharing this content feels like the best way to thank all the players and offer you all the ability to express yourselves."
The studio said that in some cases, users may need to reboot Echo VR to see the full breadth of items unlocked.
Item sets will also remain up for sale on the Echo Shop, but at reduced prices until the game shuts down.
But all add-ons, including Echo Combat, Starter Bundle, and Echo Points, are no longer be available.
The game's developer said that while the game is in its final days, that admins will keep an eye on the game for any necessary bug fixes.
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