While VR might not be the next big step in gaming as some were expecting, the platform has spawned many excellent franchises. One such series was Moss – a VR puzzler which saw you interact with an isometric world in order to assist the mouse ‘Quill’ on her journey. Unfortunately, despite launching two VR entries and a flatscreen port of the duology, studio Polyarc has announced its closure.

Taking to LinkedIn to make the announcement, the official Polyarc page confirmed the unfortunate news, writing: “Today is the end of an era for Polyarc. After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is making video games, our time together has come to an end. As we wind down active development, we are saying our farewells to each other.”

The message continues, “Working together over all of these years has been an honor. Bringing surprise and delight to those who played our games has been a privilege. Thank you to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now finished.”

This news comes as a bit of a surprise, given the fact that Polyarc only just launched their latest game a couple months ago: a flatscreen reinterpretation of the Moss Duology which arrived to a ‘very positive’ reception on Steam.

While far from the first studio to shut down in 2026, the closure of Polyarc is yet another blow to the games industry. Hopefully the roughly 30 developers impacted are able to find new employment.

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KitGuru says: Are you surprised by the announcement? Did you ever give Moss a chance? Will VR forever remain a niche in the industry? Let us know down below.

Over the years we’ve seen an increasing number of ‘flat-screen’ experiences being ported over to VR, be it through official releases or fan mods. Going in the other direction however, the team behind the cute VR duology Moss have announced that the games are being reworked into whole new “enhanced and reimagined” experiences specifically for flat screens.

Making the official announcement, the team at Polyarc unveiled ‘Moss: The Forgotten Relic’ – uniting “the beloved and critically-acclaimed Moss and Moss: Book II into a definitive singular adventure, beautifully enhanced and reimagined for its debut on PC [and consoles].”

Unlike most VR titles, Moss saw players control the world from an isometric perspective, seemingly making the transition from VR more seamless.

That said, the team have put a bunch of work into this reimagining, with some of the new features including:

• Enhanced Visuals and Performance
• New Handcrafted Cutscenes 
• Smart Follow Camera
• New accessibility options
• Both games combined into one experience

Moss is a cute and unique VR title which was primarily limited by the relatively low user-base for virtual reality. As such, it will be interesting to see how players respond to this new reimagined version when it officially arrives sometime this Summer.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Did you ever try out the original games on VR? Could the experience lend itself well to normal screens? What other VR titles would you like to see adapted? Let us know down below.

Soon after reporting on a major blow to the VR landscape with Rec Room's announced shuttering, prolific VR developer Polyarc, the studio behind the much-beloved Moss and Moss II games on PSVR and PS VR2, announced that it would be suffering layoffs. The studio is cutting an undisclosed number of developers after an "unsuccessful team-wide effort" to secure funding for its next project. The news was shared with a post on the studio's LinkedIn page, and now, like every other VR-focused studio within the video game industry, its future is that much more uncertain than it was before, with the […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/moss-developer-polyarc-lays-off-unknown-number-of-staff-unable-to-secure-funding/