Early live VR music app Wave is shutting down its VR-only software on Steam and Oculus.
The startup pivoted toward gaming and live-streaming a couple years ago but kept its original VR software, the Wave VR, running “just because the community in there has made such inspiring stuff,” according to a note posted on Friday to the company’s Twitter account. The note signed by Wave CEO and co-founder Adam Arrigo said the app was built on Google’s Poly 3D object hosting service, which is also shutting down at the end of June.
“As much as we’d love to, we aren’t able to spend the resources to build a new backend pipeline, since we are already spread so thin trying to accomplish our current set of non-VR objectives,” the note says. “Even though this means the Wave VR shows will come to a pause, we think this is the best decision for the long term future of the Wave community, and we promise to do everything we can to one day bring back this experience in an even more evolved form.”
The note mentions the startup’s pivot happened because “artists need audiences to thrive, and we realized VR just wasn’t there yet, and there was a bigger opportunity for artists outside headset.”
The “pause” is a loss to fans of the Wave VR who found the performances in there to be a unique experience akin to a concert or rave. You can check out the replies to the note on Twitter from fans reminiscing about meeting new people because of the software, or those who are sad because it was their favorite app.
To the Wave community re: Wave VR. Questions or comments, we encourage you to connect with us at info@wavexr.com. pic.twitter.com/C0xcstWvHa
— Wave (@TheWaveXR) January 15, 2021
Do you have any memories of spending time in the Wave VR app? Let us know down in the comments below!
