Rec Room, the popular virtual reality social platform where players could enjoy games, customize avatars, and connect with friends, is shutting down on its 10th anniversary. Developer Against Gravity revealed that despite attracting over 150 million players and offering VR titles like Paintball, Dodgeball, 3D Charades, and Disc Golf—with a cumulative 68,000 years spent in-game—they never managed to turn the platform into a profitable venture.
The team stated, 'Our costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue we brought in. We spent a long time trying to find a way to make the numbers work. But with the recent shift in the VR market, along with broader headwinds in gaming, the path to profitability has gotten tough enough that we've made the difficult decision to shut things down.' They added that this decision allows them to wind down operations thoughtfully and honor the community that built Rec Room.
Starting June 1, players will no longer be able to log in or access Rec Room, as the website and all related online services go offline. New account creation and friend additions are halted, with premium memberships extended to June 1. Partnered content creators will stop accepting new registrations from May 1. Notably, users can no longer create monetized user-generated content, such as room inventory items, consumables, currencies, and avatar items. After Room Rewards are distributed in April, no further payments will be made, and token purchases or gift card redemptions end on May 1, though creators can collect previously-earned tokens until May 18.
Fans expressed disappointment, with one saying, 'This f***ing sucks, man. I've had multiple MMOs and online games I enjoyed shut down, so I know how much it sucks. It's gotta be even worse for a purely social experience like Rec Room.' Another noted, 'Sad, but given its whole gimmick was 'Roblox for VR', the writing was on the wall as soon as Roblox added VR support, as well as the stagnation of that medium in general.'
In August 2025, Rec Room laid off about half its team but projected a runway into 2029, even if business conditions didn't improve, citing a 70% year-over-year increase in user-generated content revenue in July 2025. However, that optimistic forecast has proven inaccurate.
The team concluded, 'On behalf of the team we’d like to thank you for being a part of the Rec Room community and helping us create a fun and welcoming place for players from all walks of life over the past ~10 years. Your boundless creativity and enthusiasm has been a source of great inspiration and joy. We wish we could have found a way to keep things rolling, but unfortunately this is the end of the road.'
As a final gesture, Rec Room is discounting all first-party content by 80% in all stores and making some premium features free. Players can download their photos and a final report card as a memento, though creators cannot download working copies of their rooms due to server dependencies, but they can retrieve room and invention data for use in tools like Unity.
This closure reflects broader challenges in the VR market. In January, Meta laid off around 10% of staff at its Reality Labs division, affecting over 1,000 people and leading to the closure of VR-focused studios such as Twisted Pixel (Deadpool VR), Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR), and Sanzaru Games (Asgard's Wrath). While social mini-game experiences remain popular, as seen with Roblox, VR overall has faced significant setbacks.
