Another sad day today, unfortunately. In July, Polyarc released Moss: The Forgotten Relic, a new version of the two original games combined that abandoned its VR headset origins. Now, unfortunately, it appears the studio is shutting down, as the developer’s LinkedIn page shared a post this week stating the end of “active development.”
“Today is the end of an era for Polyarc,” we read in the statement. “After nearly 12 years of riding the joyful roller coaster of emotions that is video game creation, our time together has come to an end. As we end active development, we say goodbye. Working together all these years has been an honor. Surprising and delighting those who have played our games has been a privilege. Thanks to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now complete.” link to a spreadsheet with contact information for the entire team was included as well as for studios likely to hire.
Founded in 2015, Polyarc’s first game was Moss, a virtual reality adventure puzzle game about a mouse called Quill who wants to save his uncle, released in 2018. A sequel, Moss: Book 2, released in 2022, with both games receiving critical acclaim. Before the release of The Forgotten Relic pseudo-remaster, Polyarc also released a competitive online VR strategy game last year set in the same world as Moss, called Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss. Unfortunately, based on the very few reviews the game has, it doesn’t seem to have sold very well.
Presumably, The Forgotten Relic also didn’t perform well enough to keep the studio afloat, but the lack of details regarding the studio’s closure makes it hard to say. The world of virtual reality was never the big success that many wanted, but at least Polyarc managed to hold on for over a decade, and that’s commendable. Solidarity with those affected.
