The Order: 1886 Developer Acquired by Facebook | Game Rant
Microsoft's streaming service Mixer unexpectedly shut down this morning as the tech conglomerate announced a partnership with Facebook Gaming, but that is apparently not the only video game-related news Facebook decided to make public today. In an Oculus Blog post by Facebook AR/VR content vice president Mike Verdu, it was announced that the company has acquired The Order: 1886 developer Ready At Dawn to create "groundbreaking content in VR."
Ready At Dawn's 2015 third-person action-adventure title The Order: 1886 was considered a disappointment upon release, yet the studio has gone on to create other titles including Lone Echo, Echo Arena, and Echo Combat for Oculus since 2017. It is also currently developing Lone Echo 2, and Verdu said that utilizing Facebook's VR technology will allow Ready At Dawn to create "memorable, immersive, and innovative VR content."
Despite this acquisition, Verdu said in the blog post that Ready At Dawn is still an independently-operated studio, one that is retaining its entire staff and will still be publishing on Oculus Quest. On Twitter, Ready At Dawn CEO Ru Weerasuriya said the team is excited to "open a new chapter in our story and continue to pursue our passions," though Verdu said in the blog that they are not ready to share details about future projects at this time.
With layoffs being a not uncommon occurrence at major game studios and publishers like Sony, it is good to see that Facebook has kept the Ready At Dawn team in-tact through this acquisition, and that they feel the studio's tight-knit community and focus are "aspects of the company we admire and intend to maintain." Verdu said the independent studio will continue to operate out of both its offices in Irvine, California, and Portland, Oregon.
However, it is unclear exactly what Ready At Dawn will be doing under this new purview as an Oculus Studios team. In January, it was rumored that a sequel to The Order: 1886 was in development for PS5 and the Xbox Series X, but with much of the studio's attention focused on VR series like Lone Echo this seems less likely.
No matter what Ready At Dawn works on next, it should be interesting to see how its new ownership might affect titles down the line. If a sequel to The Order: 1886 does come to fruition, fans of the first game should probably expect at least some VR integration.
The Order: 1886 is available for PS4.
Source: Oculus Blog
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