- Rec Room will close in June
- The popular metaverse platform struggled to turn its success into profits
- Snap Reportedly Buying Some Rec Room Assets
Recreation room – a popular multiplayer virtual reality platform that reached more than 150 million players during its lifetime – will close in June as the company explains: “Our costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue we generated.” But I could still live in AR.
This follows the semi-closure of Meta’s horizon worlds metaverse. That title will live on in its entirety on mobile devices and will be playable in virtual reality, but the immersive experience once iconic on the Quest headset won’t receive updates or new content as Meta shifts its focus to smartphones and headsets.
For Recreation roomA similar change also appears to be on the table.
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Although not much is revealed in the School’s out for the recreation room blog post, which details the platform’s final days such as 80% discounts, the removal of some RR+ membership exclusivities for certain items and for token withdrawals, and the ability to download created rooms as a standalone Unity app (only through the Steam PC version), it is reported that the team’s efforts may be reborn in a form under Snap.
According to Geek Wire, the Snapchat and AR glasses maker acquired some assets of Rec Room Inc., including some employees. It hasn’t been confirmed what they will do, but based on my experience with Snapchat’s specs, I have an educated guess that these old Recreation room The developers will help make Snap’s AR software the virtual playground I’m dreaming of.
I loved the VR multiplayer, but having experienced AR multiplayer with Snap’s Spectacles, the in-person digital experience is superior, even in my admittedly limited demo.
Peridot’s multiplayer mode allowed a group of us to see and interact with each other’s virtual pets, we could draw and create 3D art together in the room, and although it wasn’t a game itself, the multi-person AR translation with floating subtitles under each speaker seemed like magic.
Although the actual gameplay of these apps wasn’t mind-blowing, the combined virtual and real experience was a delight, and my mind was racing with what the future might hold.
With a couple of clever AR specs, you can turn a park into an AR paintball field for you and your friends, turn your living room into a jungle adventure, or your backyard into a tennis court… the list goes on.
An AR version of Recreation roomWith its combination of pre-designed and user-generated content, it could be a great AR app. Instead of waiting for someone to create the AR game you’ve been wanting, you would have the tools to create it yourself.
Now, there’s no promise that this is what Snap has planned, but from my conversations and demos with the team there, it’s clear that the company has big AR aspirations, so this type of move wouldn’t be out of the question. We’ll have to wait and see what he has up his sleeve when his glasses debut later this year.
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