Hello there, and welcome to The Game Business Micro. Our paid-subscriber-only briefing on the biggest stories of the last week.
As we stumble into the third week of the year, 2026 is starting to look a lot like 2025… a confusing mix of very positive and super negative stories.
Meta’s metaverse pivot this week feels existential to the VR industry. And we’ll explore that briefly today (although join us later in the week when we will dive more deeply).
There are signs of strong growth, of varying sorts, coming out of China and Germany. And Krafton has announced it game strategy, which it hopes will lead it to creating a big franchise.
Plus, there’s another Fallout series coming, and we check-in with PullUp Entertainment.
Enjoy.
Blow to the VR industry as Meta closes studios
In Brief: Meta has closed three VR studios: Twisted Pixel (Deadpool VR), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath) and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR). In total, the firm is cutting 1,000 staff from its Reality Labs division, and focusing its energies on AI and wearables, including augmented reality glasses.
What You Need To Know:
Since 2020, Meta’s Reality Labs division has lost $70 billion cumulatively. In its last quarterly earnings, this division lost $4.4 billion.
