Ready At Dawn, the makers of The Order: 1886 and more recently Lone Echo, is now part of Facebook, where the studio will work on virtual reality games for the Oculus VR platform, the social media company announced today.
“As part of the Oculus Studios team, Ready At Dawn will continue creating memorable, immersive, and innovative VR content for gamers around the world as an independently-operated studio,” Mike Verdu, head of VR content at Facebook, wrote in a press release. According to Verdu, Ready At Dawn will continue operating out of its Irvine, CA and Portland, OR offices, where it will continue working on Lone Echo II, a follow-up to 2017's Lone Echo about exploring a space station in zero gravity, due out later this year.
Before Lone Echo, Ready at Dawn was best known for 2015's The Order: 1886, one of the earlier PS4 exclusives in the console’s lifespan. A cinematic game about hunting werewolves and vampires in an alternate-history, steampunk London, it met with some harsh criticism when first released for its over-reliance on quick-time events but has since found some ardent defenders.
Though Lone Echo II was originally expected to come out earlier this year, Ready At Dawn announced last April its development had been impacted by new work-from-home requirements associated with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. The studio still plans for the game to come to Oculus Rift sometime in 2020.