The Future of Rec Room — An Upsetting Update

Hey everybody, it’s UnderMyCap. I hope you’re all having an awesome day. This is a little bit of a different post because if you haven’t heard, Rec Room has unfortunately had to lay off 50% of their staff recently, and honestly, it’s something I felt I really needed to talk about.

My Journey With Rec Room

When I first started playing Rec Room, which was probably about a year ago now, I decided I was going to take a massive risk and start making VR content on my channel. I had been making Minecraft content for such a long time, and having the idea to switch up the content and jump into a game which was kind of going downhill at the time just seemed absolutely nuts. But honestly, in the time I’ve been playing this game, it has been so cool. There are so many creative people, and it has really made me change the way I think about content and engaging with a community. The fact that this game gives you the tools to be able to create whatever you want, wherever you are, is just incredible. When I first saw this game, I was like, this is such a cool idea — I have to share it with everyone.

What Happened to Rec Room?

Unfortunately, over time, because of the way markets operate and how the VR and AR industry is not really taking off as people were expecting, there is now this growing problem where VR companies and startups are really struggling. We can see that clearly through Rec Room. They initially had to cut 17% of their staff, and now they have unfortunately had to cut another 50%, which is just insane. It is really hard for everyone to have this awesome, truly unique game and watch so much of its infrastructure just disappear. If you play the game, you would know there was a massive creative community run by some staff members, including partnered content creators using programs designed to help more people create content online, and just so much more. So many wonderful things in this game are now gone because of the restructuring happening inside the Rec Room company.

How Could This Play Out?

There are two ways I think this can play out for Rec Room. The first is that they unfortunately are not making enough profit. As I mentioned, the VR and AR market is not going as expected, so they have had to cut down on staff in order to try to keep the game alive. The second reason, and the one I am really hoping for, is that there is some sort of external company or external factor looking to take control of the game and help assist with finances to keep it thriving and surviving. They may see this as an opportunity to actually improve the game, and I really hope that is the case.

What This Means for the Channel

This situation is genuinely difficult for the channel because I have dived so deeply into Rec Room content. I love Minecraft and I really want to get back into it, but it has been hard to step away from a game that more people should know about and more people should be building and being creative in. The way I am thinking things will go is that I will probably have to slow down or stop Rec Room content for now. If the game is going downhill and not picking up, the videos will not reach the people who need them, and I love creating these videos — but if they are not helping people be creative, then I see little point in continuing them. The reason I have always loved making Minecraft tutorials and Rec Room tutorials is being able to see people’s comments and seeing how they have used those tutorials to be more creative in their own games. Whether it was Minecraft command blocks, custom maps, or Rec Room building tools — helping people create has always been the heart of what I do here.

So the plan of attack for the channel is to cut back on Rec Room content and potentially stop those videos for now, and dive back into Minecraft. I know a lot of the Minecraft fans out there are going to be super happy about that, and honestly, so am I. But I also really want to explore a new type of platform to create on, so I am potentially going to dive into Meta Horizon Worlds as well. That platform seems to have a lot of funding behind it, and with Meta’s resources, there is real potential for it to grow into something exciting for creators.

My Hopes for the Future

My biggest hope is that Rec Room as a whole recovers and that they are able to provide a whole bunch of tools to creators to help keep the creativity alive. I also want to take a moment to speak directly to everyone who has been impacted by these layoffs. I hope that you all find amazing opportunities ahead and that the best comes your way. I know there has been an enormous amount of hard work put into this game by the developers and the entire Rec Room team to make it the special place it is, and I am truly grateful for that. Even though I have never met any of you, I wish you all the very best. I hope you find great jobs, and I know how tough this period must be. Thank you for making this game great for the one year I have been able to play it, thank you for helping this platform grow, and thank you for allowing more people around the world to be creative.

If you would like to watch the original video where I talk about all of this, you can check it out below. As always, stay awesome everyone.

▶ Watch the video: The Future Of Rec Room, An Upsetting Update