Meta’s Acquisition of 9 Leading VR Studios Since 2019: Developments and Impact

Between 2019 and 2022, Meta kinda went nuts buying up VR studios like there was no tomorrow. I mean, they snagged nine studios! So, what went down over these six years? Grab a coffee, we’ll find out. There’s been everything from big wins to, well, not-so-great moments.

Meta swooping in usually means a few things. Studios get showered with resources, linked up with iconic IPs, and have this weird security blanket vibe from the whole Meta umbrella. But, and it’s a big but, it can be a creative straitjacket too. Less room to stretch their creative legs because they’ve got to keep the hits coming that got them noticed in the first place.

Meta’s nine-studio haul? Mixed bag. Some of them crushed it with new stuff, others… eh, not so much.

Beat Games – Beat Saber Acquired in 2019

Ah, Beat Saber. Who hasn’t flailed around trying to slice blocks to the beat? Meta picked them up in 2019 to keep that rhythm fun train chugging along. They said the team would stay kinda independent. Updates? Sure! New music packs featuring big artists dropped fairly often, and multiplayer got tossed into the mix.

But certain promises just fizzled out. Custom sabers? Maybe next year. Mixed reality mode? Also a miss. After all these years, has the game really changed? Not so much. Sure, it’s profitable—it’s like, the VR golden child. But now, six years in, Beat Games doesn’t seem busy cooking up groundbreaking ideas. Oh, and did you hear? They’re ditching the PSVR/2 version soon, and multiplayer is saying goodbye in 2026. They teased something big… but who knows.

Fun fact? The original founders, Jan Ilavsky, Jaroslav Beck, and Vladimir Hrincar, have all moved on. Meta’s running the Beat show now.

Post-acquisition Grade? B–

Sanzaru Games – Asgard’s Wrath Acquired 2020

Sanzaru, the ones behind Asgard’s Wrath, got added to the Meta fam in 2020. Meta thought they’d keep making epic VR realms. Released in 2023, Asgard’s Wrath 2 squeezed into the Quest 2 and 3, which was quite the Herculean task given the previous game rocked on a PC.

Graphics are top-notch! Players are pretty happy; they gave it a nice [4.2/5] review. But it didn’t happen overnight. It took nearly four years post-buyout for that sequel to see the light of day.

Then, in early 2025, they did a final content drop and basically said, "That’s it for now, folks." They claim they’re plotting another secret project though. TBD.

Post-acquisition Grade? B+

Ready at Dawn – Lone Echo & Echo VR Acquired 2020, Closed 2024

Ready at Dawn? They gave us Lone Echo and Echo VR—stellar games back when PC VR was the big thing. Meta snapped them up in 2020 with hopes pinned on their big VR visions.

Lone Echo II eventually came out in 2021. But a port of Echo VR to Quest never came, even though everyone thought it was a no-brainer. Then, bam! Just three years post-acquisition, Ready at Dawn announced Echo VR was history. Fans were mad—it stung. There was talk of new projects, but in 2024 Meta closed the studio entirely. Ouch.

Post-acquisition Grade? F+ (A for effort though)

Downpour Interactive – Onward Acquired 2021, Closed 2025

Onward was a staple in VR for mil-sim fans since 2016. Meta bought Downpour Interactive in 2021 aiming to beef up Onward’s multiplayer cred.

There were hiccups with the Quest launch, yeah. But things smoothed out over time and fans stuck around. It raked in a crazy 18,000 reviews—solid [4.2/5] score. Good stuff, right?

But 2023 brought layoffs across Meta’s studios. Downpour’s CEO Dante Buckley jumped ship early on. Then, mid-2025, Meta announced they’re closing Downpour. Staff got shifted to Camouflaj, another studio under Meta. Onward’s alive, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for big updates.

Post-acquisition Grade? D+

And look at that—our chat’s just begun. There’s page 2 waiting with even more chaotic tales of studio drama. Stay tuned, or not, up to you.