Meta to stop Quest 1 support for Population: ONE

Meta is stopping Quest 1 support for 'Population: ONE'.

Hailed as a state-of-the-art VR social gaming experience, the battle-royale shooter will no longer be playable on the Quest 1 headset as of October 31st, 2022.

Meta's developer BigBox VR claimed the reason for the support ending is so they can focus on making new titles “that will push the boundaries of multiplayer VR.”

Meta spokesperson Caiti Sullivan added to The Verge that it is “working out the details of an ecosystem-wide end-of-support process,” and insisted “other developers who choose to end support for apps on Quest 1 will be able to do so.”

Facebook, now called Meta, acquired BigBox VR in 2016.

The social media platform - which purchased Oculus Rift in 2014 - continued its gaming purchases by obtaining the 'Population: ONE' developer.

Facebook previously praised 'Population: One' for its social elements.

Former Facebook Reality Labs executive Mike Verdu - who was hired by Netflix to lead its gaming department - said in a blog post at the time: "POP: ONE stormed onto the VR scene just nine months ago and has consistently ranked as one the top-performing titles on the Oculus platform, bringing together up to 24 people at a time to connect, play, and compete in a virtual world.

"While social is bringing players into POP: ONE, the quirky humour, continual updates, and pure fun of the environment keeps them coming back time and time again - we've even seen players scheduling time to meet in-game for a synchronous social experience."

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