Why AltspaceVR Shut Down
Here’s how the company explained the decision in a blog post: The service still works great, but the VC money isn’t there. While venture capitalists have been investing record sums in general, they’ve been investing in fewer opportunities, and it seems AltspaceVR couldn’t make the cut. Despite 35,000 unique monthly users spending an average of 35 mins on the service, the benefit of the social network wasn’t clear to its investors.
But Other VR Services Are Doing Well
It reminds me of the old-school Oregon Trail game, which inevitably killed off half my troop of travelers due to dysentery. AltspaceVR’s demise might simply be a symptom of its pioneering status. It showed up too early, predating plenty of other attempts to merge VR with social networks. The lesson? VR is chugging along — for confirmation, check out one funding platform that has helped VR creators reel in over $3 million — and the AltspaceVR shutdown says more about how sticky-fingered VCs are than how well the entire VR market is doing. Sadly, the service’s shutdown stands as an example of the dangers any startup faces: Even if it delivers on its promises, it will still face extinction in an ecosystem dependent on VC funds and vulnerable to competition from 800-pound gorillas like Facebook. Read more about the future of VR here at TechCo
