OrbusVR (2019), the MMORPG for VR headsets, is shutting down, with creator Orbus Online stating it will stop sales on all platforms starting next month and shut down servers completely in April.
The studio released the news in a community update (seen below), stating that it’s pulling OrbusVR from Steam and the Horizon Store come February 10th, 2025. Servers are planned to go offline on April 6th.
Released first in Steam Early Access in 2017, OrbusVR was an ambitious project for the time, as it appealed exclusively to PC VR users—a population that wasn’t particularly ‘massive’, but very ardent in their support for the fledgling MMO.
With the birth of its full 1.0 version, OrbusVR took on the name OrbusVR: Reborn in 2019, bringing along with it a fair slice of free gameplay to get curious users hooked on the world’s overarching story, five-player dungeons, 10-player raids, enemies, jobs, and the community that supported it all.
Unlike many traditional MMOs, OrbusVR wasn’t subscription-based, but rather a one-time purchase. At launch, that was $40, however the studio since lowered the all-in price to $20 across PC VR headsets via Steam and all Meta headsets via the Horizon Store.
The studio also relied on in-world purchases for a continued revenue stream, including in-game shop with items such as mounts and cosmetic pets for sale, as well as through ‘Mini Story’ expansion packs, which included new zones, NPCs, and questlines.
Here’s the studio’s message in full:
We wanted to start off by thanking the community. Since the start of development in 2016, to our launch into Early Access of OrbusVR in December of 2017 all the way through this last year, we have always been blessed with the best community. This community has supported us through the last 8 years and allowed us to create the game and social environment that we are proud of. For that and everything you all have done for us, we are forever grateful.
With that said, it saddens us to announce that on February 10th 2025, we will be stopping sales on all platforms, with the server officially going offline on April 6th 2025. While we as a company have tried to sustain the game as long as possible, we have made the difficult decision to take this next and final step.
In the coming months leading to the server shutdown, we will be planning a few farewell events, including increased drop rates on legendaries, unlocking the DLC for all players that may not have experienced it yet, and hosting the last official Mage Tournament in-game. While we are truly sad to say goodbye to this game, we want to celebrate the fun, friends, and memories that have been experienced in our games’ long history. We plan on doing an end of game wrapup, sharing stats like total hours played, monsters killed, etc., in the coming months.
While there are still many things we would like to highlight like standout moments we have had from playing and interacting with the community, to favorite places, or even some of the lesser known lore of the game, this will not be the last post.
We are still hopeful this market gets the love and attention it deserves in the future, and wish all future developers the greatest of success in reaching their goals! We hope this game has given you more friends and memories than one can count. We are so proud of the work we have all put into this game, along with being part of pioneering the future of VR in our small way.
Thank you for making every second of this journey worth it,
OrbusVR Development Team
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