Meta-owned Dev Team of ‘Onward’ is Being Dismantled Following Major Game Update

Onward (2020), the tactical mil-sim shooter from Meta-owned Downpour Interactive, got its big 2.0 update in March, bringing improved visuals and a host of new content to the game. Now, Downpour Interactive announced that Meta is shutting down the studio, effectively halting development and moving employees to sister studio Camouflaj.

Downpour Interactive announced the news in a blogpost, detailing what’s happening next.

“Update 2.0 will be the last content for Onward,” the studio says, further noting that while the game will not be shut down, it will no longer receive dev support for new content or non-critical bug fixes.

This also means Onward no longer has a dedicated support team; the studio suggests contacting platform holders, such as Meta and Valve, for technical support in launching the game. Bug-related or troubleshooting issues should be directed at the Onward Discord or Onward subreddit, the studio says.

Furthermore, Downpour Interactive announced its developers have been moved to Meta sister studio Camouflaj, known for Iron Man VR (2020) and Batman: Arkham Shadow (2024).

In 2016, Onward made a splash with its early access release on PC VR headsets, becoming a mainstay for hardcore VR mil-sim players. Then, in 2020, the studio ported Onward to the original Oculus Quest with the help of publisher Coatsink, which notably came with a critically-received graphical downgrade affecting all platforms—something initially done to insure better PC VR-Quest cross-play.

With the acquisition of Downpour Interactive in 2021, Meta saw it as an opportunity to make Onward “one of the foremost multiplayer VR games” though, spurring the studio to tighten up the game to include better visuals, lighting, and smarter AI behavior.

Meta acquired a rash of VR studios between 2019 and 2022, including Beat Games (Beat Saber), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath I & II), Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo, Echo VR), BigBox VR (Population: One), Within (Supernatural), Twisted Pixel (Wilson’s Heart, Marvel’s Deadpool VR), and Camouflaj.

Amid turmoil in the wider gaming industry in recent years, Meta however conducted wide-ranging layoffs in 2023, which affected over 10,000 employees across the company.

Among them was a third of staff at Ready at Dawn, and an unverified number at Downpour Interactive. Studio founder and former CEO Dante Buckley, who started the studio in 2015, departed the company a month prior to layoffs.