Facebook is closing popular app forever – and fans are disappointed

ONE of the biggest virtual reality games on Facebook’s Oculus is shutting down forever.

The game was so popular that it was even involved in e-sports events.

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Echo VR, also known as Echo Arena, will be canceled in a few months.

Facebook bought the game’s developer, Ready At Dawn, in 2020 after making Echo VR one of its flagship games on the Meta Quest.

The Meta Quest, formerly known as the Oculus Quest, is a standalone VR headset that doesn’t need to be paired with an expensive PC.

The game is so popular that players even have it started a petition to save it, which has already been signed by more than 16,000 fans.

“I’m blown away to hear that Meta just puffed out one of their top five most played Quest games, Echo VR,” said Flat2VR, a group for virtual reality (VR) gamers, in a statement Twitter.

Meta does not offer refunds for in-app purchases or in-game currency.

The game’s developer broke the news in a blog post earlier this week.

Ready At Dawn said they made the “difficult decision” to drop the game “after much discussion internally and with our partners at Meta.”

“This decision was by no means easy for us,” the studio said.

“But it was done for many good reasons, the most important of which is for the studio to come together to focus on our next project.

“We can’t say anything about it yet, but we’re all excited and need all hands on deck.”

Echo VR will continue until the morning of August 1st, when the servers will shut down and the game will end.

Players will now be lavished with Peace Offering rewards that will be available until the games close for good.

From now through early August, users can unlock a variety of goodies just by playing a match of Echo Combat or Arena.

Players can now access these goodies:

• All Epic + Superb Rarity Chassis/Boosters/Bracer Sets from Echo Pass Seasons 1-6
  – Season 7 rewards will be released at a later date
• All chassis variants
• All non-3D rewards from Echo Pass Seasons 1-6
  – Season 7 rewards will be released at a later date
• All Echo Shop items
  – Including starter pack
• All previous event rewards
• Some previously unreleased rewards

“We wanted to show all of our players how much we’ve appreciated their support over the past few years,” added Ready At Dawn.

“Sharing this content seems like the best way to thank all players and give them a chance to express themselves.”

The studio said that in some cases, users may need to restart Echo VR to see the full breadth of unlocked items.

Item sets will continue to be available for sale in the Echo Shop, but at reduced prices until the game closes.

But all add-ons including Echo Combat, Starter Bundle and Echo Points are no longer available.

The game’s developer said that while the game is in its final days, the admins will be keeping an eye on the game to find any necessary bug fixes.

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