Facebook’s Oculus exiting making VR content with the announced it is shutting down Story Studio, its in-house VR film production arm. The firm works on hits such as Henry, which won an Emmy last year; Lost; and Dear Angelica.
Oculus’ VP of Content Jason Rubin in a blog post said the company is shifting its focus “away from internal content creation to support more external production” now that more traditional filmmakers are investing in VR.
“Now that a large community of filmmakers and developers are committed to the narrative VR art form, we’re going to focus on funding and supporting their content,” Rubin wrote. “This helps us turn our internal research, development, and attention towards exciting but unsolved problems in AR and VR hardware and software.”
He added that Oculus is “still absolutely committed to growing the VR film and creative content ecosystem.” The company last year committed $250 million to fund VR content for the Rift, including games like Robo Recall, Rock Band VR, and Wilson’s Heart, along with non-gaming VR experiences like Follow My Lead which is about the 2016 NBA finals.
