Seattle-based virtual reality startup Vreal has shut down as a result of the VR market’s sluggish expansion. The company broke the news on its website, and explained its entire team has been laid off.
Vreal had raised $15 million in venture capital since its inception in 2015, and was working on a virtual reality streaming platform that would let viewers create avatars and interact with fellow fans and broadcasters in a shared VR space.
While that sounds like a novel idea, the company explained the VR market simply didn’t expand fast enough for the platform to gain traction.
“Vreal started with an ambitious idea – VR is immersive, and VR content should be immersive too. For those that are a part of the VR community, it’s always inspiring to see the wonder and awe on a friend’s face when you first put them in your VR headset. VR is magical, and the Vreal team wanted to share that magic with everyone,” reads a post on the Vreal website.
“We achieved that, and we are incredibly proud of the work we’ve done. Unfortunately, the VR market never developed as quickly as we all had hoped, and we were definitely ahead of our time. As a result, Vreal is shutting down operations and our wonderful team members are moving on to other opportunities.”