Rec Room, once known as a promising giant in the world of social gaming, announced It will shut down its platform on Monday, June 1.
If you are a fan of this platform or have ever spent time creating or exploring its virtual worlds, this news will probably come as a great shock to you. Over the years, Rec Room attracted more than 150 million players, becoming a favorite spot for social gaming, especially during the pandemic when everyone was looking for ways to connect online.
Founded in 2016 by Nick Fajt and Cameron Brown, Rec Room received significant attention and investment, reaching valuation. $3.5 billion In December 2021.
Despite all those players, Rec Room struggled to figure out how to actually make money. Costs skyrocketed and revenues could not grow as much. Even with a strong community and new features like Maker AI for game creation, the financial side didn’t get any better, leading to significant layoffs earlier this year.
“We spent a lot of time figuring out how to make the numbers work,” the company wrote in its announcement Monday. “But due to recent changes in the VR market, as well as broader headwinds in gaming, the path to profitability has become so difficult that we have made the difficult decision to close things down.”
From now on, no new accounts or friend requests can be made. Creators will no longer be able to share monetized content and the platform will be shut down on June 1 at 12 noon PT.
