Earlier today, FuturLab announced some news about the PowerWash Simulator VR that might disappoint fans of the game on Quest. CEO Kirsty Rigden confirmed that the company would no longer continue supporting the VR version. The main reasons? High costs and the importance of job security for their employees.
In a straightforward statement, Rigden expressed their love and belief in the potential of VR technology. However, she pointed out that the VR team was working on a platform that simply wasn’t bringing in enough revenue. “It’s costing us more than it makes,” she explained. While they’ve halted VR support for now, Rigden didn’t completely rule out the possibility of revisiting it in the future. But for the time being, the VR team has been reassigned to new projects, a move aimed at ensuring job security.
Rigden went on to explain the dilemma they faced. Despite holding VR in high regard, the financial imbalance couldn’t be ignored. The team had opportunities elsewhere within the company, and it became a priority to secure those jobs. Rigden noted, “As much as I’d like to support PowerWash Simulator on every platform available, safeguarding my team’s job security will always come first. It’s a choice anyone in my position would understand, even though it might be disappointing.”
For those interested, here’s the full statement they shared:
> I am so sorry to let you know that we won’t be continuing support of PowerWash Simulator VR. We absolutely love and believe in VR, so this doesn’t mean that we won’t support it in the future but we aren’t able to continue with support right now.
> We have been faced with a crossroads: we have a truly excellent and kind VR team who were working on a platform which costs us more than it makes, while also having a list of job openings that were looking to be filled on other projects. We took the decision to redeploy our VR team into those other projects/roles. Whilst I would love to live in a world where we could support PowerWash Simulator on every platform going, I will always choose job security for my team. Every time. While I know that you must be so disappointed, I also know that if you were in my position you would have made the same decision.
Despite the halt in VR support, fans of the flat-screen version still have plenty to look forward to. New content keeps rolling out, including the Shrek DLC and the soon-to-arrive Wallace & Gromit Pack. In contrast, Quest support has been lacking since June’s Alice’s Adventures Special Pack, although previous post-launch updates included fun collaborations like the Muckingham Files, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Back to the Future.
Even with VR support discontinued, PowerWash Simulator VR and all its current downloadable content will remain available on the Meta Quest platform. Fortunately, FuturLab doesn’t intend to remove them any time soon.
