Meta-owned Ready At Dawn shocked fans of Echo VR with the announcement that the game will shut down.
The multiplayer game’s servers will be turned off this August, ending support after six years as Ready at Dawn moves onto its next project. The shutdown applies to both Echo Arena and Echo Combat.
Released as a standalone multiplayer game in 2017 built on top of some of the zero-g gameplay seen in Lone Echo, Echo VR became a standout title for Quest headsets with full release in 2020. Just a few years later, Ready At Dawn is closing down its servers on August 1, 2023 at 10am PT. Announced through Medium, the studio explains the team is shifting focus onto its next project, writing: “We can’t say anything about it yet, but we are all excited and need all hands on deck.”
You can read the statement below:
At Ready At Dawn, we pride ourselves on being open and communicative with our community. To that end, we have news to share… after many discussions internally and with our partners at Meta, we have made the difficult decision to shut down Echo VR. What does this mean for Echo VR? Well… we’re not shutting it down tomorrow. Echo VR will continue running until August 1, 2023–10:00 AM Pacific, at which point servers and services will be shut down preventing any further play. By no means was this decision made lightly. But it was made for many good reasons and chief among them is the studio coming together to focus on our next project. We can’t say anything about it yet, but we are all excited and need all hands on deck.
Good morning Echo Units. Here is the annual update for our amazing community. https://t.co/QY6xDYVJ6A
— Echo Games (@EchoGames) January 31, 2023
Ready at Dawn is making most of the free-to-play game’s past rewards available through a ‘Giveback Event’. While Season 7 rewards will arrive at a later date, all you need to do is play one match of Echo Combat or Arena to unlock the following.
- All Epic + Superb rarity chassis/booster/bracer sets from Echo Pass seasons 1–6
- All Chassis Variants
- All non-3D rewards from Echo Pass seasons 1–6
- All Echo Shop items, including Starter Bundle
- All previous event rewards
- Some previously unreleased rewards
However, the Giveback Event doesn’t cover VRML rewards or the LE2 Chassis, while Legendary sets from previous seasons will be placed on sale through the Echo Shop at a reduced price. Lastly, all premium add-ons, such as Echo Combat, the Starter Bundle, and Echo Points, have been removed from sale as of today.
Echo VR doesn’t have long left but if you’re curious to jump in, it remains free-to-play on the Meta Quest platform and Rift headsets until August 1, 2023. Meta acquired Ready At Dawn in 2020 and has already confirmed publicly that its follow up to the Quest 2 system is due out “later” in 2023.
You can find out more through Ready at Dawn’s full shutdown FAQ on the announcement post.
via Mint VR