Studio behind PlayStation Firewall games shuts down due to “lack of support” for VR within industry

VR studio First Contact Entertainment has shut down. The company, which is behind PSVR and PSVR2 games Firewall Zero Hour and Firewall Ultra, said the “lack of support for VR within the industry” was a factor in its decision.

First Contact Entertainment shared the news just before Christmas, via a statement on Facebook. “After almost 8 years of working with the most amazing team I've ever had the pleasure of being part of, I'm sad to announce that we will be closing our company First Contact Entertainment by the end of the year,” reads the statement.

“The lack of support for VR within the industry has eventually taken its toll. As a AAA VR game developer, we are just not able to justify the expense needed [going] forward. We are a team of fearless innovators willing to push new technologies to their limits.”

First Contact said it was proud of its team, and shared its gratitude to those who had supported the studio over the years.

“It's been a wild ride, Thank you,” the statement closed.

First Contact Entertainment released Firewall Zero Hour on PSVR back in 2018. Our resident VR hobbyist Ian was quite taken with the shooter on its launch, calling it “exquisitely thought-out.”

A follow-up subsequently arrived on PSVR2 last year, in the form of Firewall Ultra. While Ian still felt there was “a lot to like” with this release, he couldn't deny it had its problems. You can listen to all of Ian's thoughts on Firewall Ultra in the video above.

First Contact Entertainment also released Solaris Offworld Combat on both PSVR and Oculus. This was a first-person, team-based shooter which Ian called “a load of fun” to play.

The news of First Contact's closure follows multiple other studio closures and layoffs across the industry over the last 12 months (although these were not attributed to VR).