Meta is shutting down three of its exclusive titles next March, including VR shooters Dead and Buried (2016) and Dead and Buried II (2019), and virtual pet simulator Bogo (2019).
Meta announced via email to current game owners that all three titles will no longer be supported come March 15th, 2024. In the meantime, the company has removed the games from store search results, and removed any way to purchase or download them (if not already in your library).
Created as an Oculus Touch launch title for Rift and released in late 2016 by Oculus Studios, Dead and Buried was one of the pioneering multiplayer VR shooters that explored room-scale gameplay, including co-op, PvP, and single-player modes.
Interestingly, the Oculus Touch launch title never came to Quest, although a version was adapted for Oculus Go, the 3DOF standalone released in 2018.
Meta’s internal game development studio back then, Oculus Studios, instead was working on Dead and Buried II, which would release as a launch title for the original Quest in May 2019, but also arrive on Rift with cross-play.
Dead and Buried II departed from the purely room-scale locomotion of the first, and injected some standard stick-driven locomotion to the mix, making for more dynamic shootouts across multiple maps.
Released as a free Oculus Quest launch title in 2019 (and Rift), Bogo lets you raise and care for your own virtual pet. It’s admittedly a short experience without a ton of depth, but it’s getting the axe just the same come March 15th, as it will be removed not only from both Quest and Rift Stores, but also from user libraries.
While both Dead and Buried games heavily feature online gameplay—more understandable victims of platform decay—the decision to shutter the single-player game Bogo suggests Meta isn’t prioritizing legacy support for original Quest games as it moves towards the next generation of Quest headset, or more specifically Quest 3.
Whatever the case, we’re sure to learn more come September 27th during Connect 2023 where the company will very likely release a flurry of news surrounding Quest 3.