Why is Rec Room shutting down? What to know about end of VR game

It's the end of an era for those gamers who loved to hang out in the virtual reality multiplayer game Rec Room.

On March 30, 2026, developers posted an update on blog.recroom.com announcing that the game would be closing down for good on June 1, 2026, at noon Pacific time.

"Over the past decade, Rec Room grew into something amazing, reaching over 150 million players and creators along the way," the post read. "Players made over half a billion friends on the platform. In total, people all around the world spent a cumulative 68 thousand years in Rec Room. ... What this community built together is incredible, and something we'll always be proud of."

Is the rec room really shutting down?

Yes, Rec Room is officially shutting down on June 1, 2026.

On June 1, players will no longer be able to login to and play Rec Room, the rec.net website will officially be offline, and any online services related to Rec Room Studio will no longer be available.

Why is Rec Room shutting down in 2026?

In the post on blog.recroom.com , the reasoning for the sudden shutdown is due to being unable to make the game a sustainably profitable business despite its popularity.

"Our costs always ended up overwhelming the revenue we brought in," the post stated. "We spent a long time trying to find a way to make the number works. But with the recent shift in the VR market, along with broader headwinds in gaming, the path to profitability has gotten tough enough that we've made the difficult decision to shut things down."

More: What is the best hero in Clash Royale? How to get 9,000 trophies

Meredith G. White covers entertainment, art and culture for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com . She writes the latest news about video games, television and best things to do in metro Phoenix.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why is Rec Room shutting down? What to know as game ends