WIMO Games, the developer of Micro Machines: Mini Challenge Mayhem and Battle Bow, has shut down.
Yesterday's layoffs were corroborated by multiple employees over LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter). In a statement to Kotaku, associate software engineer Walter Hill confirmed that 35 people were employed by WIMO Games. UploadVR contacted WIMO Games for an official statement on January 18. On January 19, we updated this article with an emailed response, signed by WIMO Games CEO Dave Rosen.
I can confirm that this week we began winding down operations at WIMO Games. It’s been an incredible three years working with this fantastic team and this is not the outcome we had hoped for. We’re immensely proud of our work on RPG Dice: Heroes of Whitestone, Battle Bows, and most recently, Micro Machines: Mini Challenge Mayhem. We’re grateful to each and every player that bought the games our team poured so much of their hard work into.
Our passionate and incredibly talented team members will be looking for new jobs and we’ve provided severance to assist in the transition. If you have roles available, or if you’ve spotted any openings, please contact WIMO through LinkedIn or those individuals directly. We appreciate our players and the many organizations who have collaborated with us so much.
It's surprising news from the Austin studio, which launched Micro Machines: Mini Challenge Mayhem only two weeks ago. Featuring track building with different pieces like loop-de-loops, this official VR adaptation of Hasbro's brand lets you race cars across a campaign mode. WIMO Games also released Battle Bows in July 2023, which later received a Showdown Mode. A now-cancelled PSVR 2 version was also in development.
WIMO Games' closure adds to an increasing list of VR studios facing layoffs and closures, and the games industry reportedly reached over 10,000 layoffs in 2023 alone. In the last month alone, DOOM 3: VR Edition and Journey To Foundation developer Archiact announced an unknown number of staff were let go, while Firewall Ultra studio First Contact Entertainment shut down completely.
