Only 4 years after the takeover by Meta, the The Order 1886-Developer Ready at Dawn has permanently shut down. This followed previous major layoffs The studio is ahead, but successful projects have been lacking recently. It seems that fewer than 50 people were working there at the last minute.
Ready at Dawn had recently focused on VR development for Meta, but failed to deliver any commercial hits in that already challenging market. According to a spokesperson (via Android CentralMeta decided to lay off Ready at Dawn employees in order to stay within the budget for the Reality Labs project and secure VR development in the long term. The remaining Ready at Dawn employees are to be reassigned to other positions within Oculus Studios. At the same time, there are calls from affected employees to apply for new jobs.
Before being acquired by Meta, Ready at Dawn planned another console project but couldn't find a publisher. It finally followed in 2020. the acquisition by Meta, for which the studio ultimately produced exclusively.
Sony had no interest in the acquisition.
Previously, Ready at Dawn had developed exclusively for PlayStation and games such as Daxter, God of War: Chains of Olympus, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, and The Order: 1886 developed. The latter was apparently not successful enough to warrant an acquisition by Sony, although there was certainly demand for a sequel. The game was praised for its impressive graphics and cinematic presentation, while Lone Echo, which is considered one of the best virtual reality experiences.
Ready at Dawn also apparently wanted a sequel to The Order: 1886 Production began, but just one month after its release, the two companies parted ways. This strongly suggests that Sony was not satisfied with the game. The demise of Ready at Dawn marks the end of another era for many PlayStation fans who appreciated the studio's creative and technological contributions. At least the legacy of the games the studio created remains. A sequel to The Order: 1886 However, this is considered highly unlikely.
GameInformer magazine, which also closed a few days ago, once published an inside story from the PlayStation era of Ready at Dawn, which we have attached here.
It would probably have been a better acquisition than Bungie – and would likely have cost only a fraction of the money.
It's a shame, I really liked The Order. The universe had so much potential. Yes, the game was practically a walking simulator, but to be honest, The Last of Us or Uncharted, for example, aren't any better.