PowerWash Simulator Developer Ending VR Support Because it “Costs Us More Than it Makes”

PowerWash Simulator developer FuturLab has announced that it will no longer be supporting VR platforms. While PowerWash Simulator‘s VR base game and all previously released DLC will remain available, the company will be moving resources away from the technology to work on other projects instead. In other words, don’t expect to see future DLC released on Meta Quest. In a statement shared to the game’s social media accounts, FuturLab CEO Kirsty Rigden did not rule out support in the future, saying that “we absolutely love and believe in VR.” However, Rigden said that “I will always choose job security for my team.”

“We have been faced with a cross roads: 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,” Rigden writes.

While this news is bound to disappoint PowerWash Simulator players on Meta Quest platforms, it’s hard to argue with the logic behind the decision. At the end of the day, FuturLab is a smaller studio, and it doesn’t make sense to throw money at a platform that isn’t proving profitable. Given the sheer number of layoffs that have happened in the video game industry over the last few years, it’s great to see a studio being able to keep this team on, even if it means sacrificing VR support. These employees will now be able to work on things like PowerWash Simulator‘s upcoming Wallace & Grommit Special Pack.

Rigden’s comments about the profitability of VR aren’t all that surprising. While many hoped that the technology would be the next big thing for gaming, it remains fairly niche. Major companies like Meta and PlayStation have spent a lot of money investing in VR, but the market doesn’t seem to have expanded much over the last few years. There are various reasons for that; for one thing, it remains prohibitively expensive for many people, and there are few standout exclusives that are pulling in users. In a time where PlayStation’s own VR future seems to be in question, it’s hardly surprising that a company like FuturLab sees it necessary to move away from VR releases.

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It will be interesting to see if this move on FuturLab’s part will be the start of a trend. There are a lot of smaller studios that produce VR games, and it’s possible they’re facing similar problems. We could see more gaming companies moving away from VR altogether, and shifting resources where they might work best. That could be cause for concern for VR users, but for now, we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.

Did you try out PowerWash Simulator VR? Do you think more companies will start to abandon the technology? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!