Formerly known as Facebook, Inc., tech company Meta has just confirmed that three of its first-party VR studios are being shutdown following layoffs. These closures include Sanzaru Games, the developer of Asgard’s Wrath and its sequel, two of the highest-rated Meta Quest exclusives.
Founded in 2006 by former Activision employees, Sanzaru Games made its debut in 2008 with Ninja Reflex, a party game for the Nintendo Wii and DS that received mixed reviews from critics. A year later, Sanzaru Games developed a PS2 port of Secret Agent Clank, a PSP Ratchet & Clank spinoff. Sanzaru continued to work closely with Sony throughout the early 2010s, delivering both The Sly Collection and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, along with the PS Vita port of the God of War Collection.
In 2019, Sanzaru Games and Oculus Studios released Asgard’s Wrath, an exclusive action-RPG that earned acclaim from critics. Following the launch of Asgard’s Wrath, Sanzaru Games was acquired by Facebook/Meta and joined Oculus Studios in February 2020. Under this new banner, Sanzaru released Asgard’s Wrath 2 in 2023, a Meta Quest 3 exclusive that’s currently sitting at a 91 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic, making it the highest-rated VR game on OpenCritic next to Half-Life: Alyx.
On the morning of January 12, 2026, the New York Times reported that Meta was planning to layoff around 10-15% of the staff working under its Reality Labs unit. This division includes Oculus Studios. This report appears to have been true, as on January 13, Meta confirmed the closure of three studios under its Reality Labs banner: Sanzaru Games, Armature, and Twisted Pixel. The news of layoffs was first broken by @andyTHPS on X, a former Vicarious Visions dev who was working at Twisted Pixel until January 13. Andy wrote, “It appears the entire Twisted Pixel games studio has been shut down. Sanzaru Games too.”
Gematsu reported on the layoffs, confirming that Twisted Pixel, Sanzaru, and Armature had indeed all been shutdown. Gematsu also received an official statement from Meta regarding the closures, which read:
“We said last month that we were shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward Wearables. This is part of that effort, and we plan to reinvest the savings to support the growth of wearables this year.”
While Sanzaru is responsible for two of the most acclaimed Meta Quest VR games currently available, Armature and Twisted Pixel have also more than proven themselves over the years. Founded in 2008, Armature is best known for developing Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate and the Xbox One console exclusive ReCore, but has also produced PS Vita ports of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection and Injustice, and most importantly, is responsible for the acclaimed Resident Evil 4 Meta Quest 2 port, which has an 86 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic. Armature did not release a game while under Meta.
Twisted Pixel also has a long history in the video game landscape, with it being founded all the way back in 2006. Twisted Pixel is probably best known for ‘Splosion Man and Ms. Splosion Man, two of the most acclaimed and iconic games of the Xbox Live Arcade era. Twisted Pixel was acquired by Meta in November 2021, and the studio’s one and only game released under the banner was last year’s Marvel’s Deadpool VR. Though Deadpool VR is far from the most revered Meta Quest title, it still earned a decent critical reception, with it sitting at a 78 Top Critic Average on OpenCritic at the time of writing. But despite all of their individual successes, Armature, Twisted Pixel, and Sanzaru Games have all been officially closed, and are all unlikely to return in the future.
Source: Gematsu
