Echo VR’s days are numbered, as Meta introduced earlier this 12 months it could quickly be pulling the plug on one among its most profitable video games on Quest. However hardcore gamers of zero-G sports activities sport Echo VR and its shooter variant Echo Fight aren’t taking place with no combat.
Organizers behind a protest group referred to as ‘The Combat For Echo’ wish to preserve their favourite sport alive, and so they’re apparently able to take drastic measures.
On Wednesday, March 1st, the group commissioned an airplane-towed message to fly over Meta’s HQ in Menlo Park, California, which then circled the center of Silicon Valley for over three hours for all to see. The message was directed at Meta founder & CEO Mark ‘Zuck’ Zuckerberg, stating: “ZUCK, DON’T KILL VR ESPORTS FIGHTFORECHO.COM”
You may see the airplane in motion, courtesy of a YouTube livestream by ‘rev2600’, one such devoted Echo VR participant:
The protest group defined the transfer on the Combat For Echo web site:
Whereas we’re extraordinarily captivated with these video games and are very supportive of the crew at Prepared at Daybreak and the Echo Video games franchise on the entire, we predict we are able to nonetheless assist Meta and Prepared at Daybreak by persevering with to be the testing floor and supportive neighborhood we all the time have been and supply a spot the place bigger concepts for different VR video games will be examined.
We can’t try this nonetheless with out some sort of sport server being offered to the neighborhood to host ourselves, or minimal infrastructure to play on and the permission to work with the individuals required to do it.
We perceive that there’s a future route being taken; and that it’s tied to laws and compliance, and our intention is to not maintain something again. We solely want to proceed to do what we’ve all the time completed and be the ambassadors of VR that you really want us to be.
The Meta-owned builders Prepared at Daybreak introduced in late January that it was shutting down the favored free-to-play multiplayer sport Echo VR, which is slated to go darkish on August 1st.
On the time, the studio mentioned the choice to close down the sport “was made for a lot of good causes and chief amongst them is the studio coming collectively to give attention to our subsequent mission.”
Undeterred by the airplane-towed plea, Meta despatched out the next message to Echo VR gamers final night time:
We’re reaching out to let you recognize that Echo VR servers will shut down on August 1st, 2023 – 10:30 AM Pacific. On this date, each Echo VR and Echo Fight will now not be playable.
Add-ons are now not accessible for buy within the Quest retailer. Echo Factors are now not accessible for buy within the Echo Store. Any Echo Factors at the moment in your account can be utilized till August 1st, 2023 – 10:30 AM Pacific, with gadgets closely discounted within the Echo Store.
It has been our pleasure to see this neighborhood develop and compete over time. Thanks to your time and keenness. For extra data, please learn Prepared At Daybreak’s weblog publish at https://medium.com/@EchoGames/an-update-on-the-future-of-echo-vr-7f074dca1ed1.
Whereas a reversal of the shutdown appears much less possible now that Prepared at Daybreak has fully neutered the free-to-play sport’s in-game foreign money, the founders behind ‘The Combat For Echo’ initiative have setup a change.org petition so others can present their assist. On the time of this writing over 25,000 individuals have signed.