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Rec Room Shuts Down Its Servers on Monday

The Seattle social‑gaming startup said it could not make the creator-driven business profitable which led to an orderly wind‑down with export tools, asset sales, and staff moves.

Overview

  • Rec Room shut its game servers at noon Pacific on Monday, June 1, making the platform unplayable and prompting players to hold final in‑game gatherings and post online tributes.
  • The company said it closed because costs outpaced revenue and it could not find a sustainable path to profit from a model built on user‑generated content.
  • A core financial problem was that Rec Room paid creators and app‑store fees that left roughly $0.30 of every dollar from player‑made items versus about $0.70 on first‑party content, squeezing margins.
  • Before the servers went dark a small internal team produced export tools and standard file exports so creators could preserve rooms, avatars, and assets for use elsewhere.
  • Snap bought select Rec Room assets and hired some staff while players and creators organize migrations and preservation projects, with VRChat and fan‑run servers positioned as leading alternatives.