Polyarc, developer of the excellent VR platforming series Moss, is shutting down after 12 years: ‘We are saying our farewells to each other’

Polyarc, the studio behind the Moss series of VR platformers, has announced it is shutting down, three months on from releasing its latest game on Steam.

“After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is making video games, our time together has come to an end,” the studio posted on LinkedIn (via IGN). “As we wind down active development, we are saying our farewells to each other.”

Founded in 2015, Polyarc made its video game debut three years later with Moss (now known as Moss: VR). Initially released as a PSVR exclusive, Moss launched onto Steam in June 2018, quickly establishing itself as one of VR’s best games.

Unlike most VR games, which naturally focus on first person experiences. Moss took classic third-person platforming and infused it with the unique perspective of VR. Players simultaneously controlled Quill—the game’s heroic mouse protagonist—using conventional action/adventure controls, while also overseeing the game’s storybook 3D as the reader, VR touch controls to manipulate objects and assist Quill in solving puzzles.

The result was an experience not quite like anything else—at least until the similarly excellent sequel arrived in 2022. Together, both games earned Polyarc over 160 awards and nominations, and were relatively commercially successful, especially on Meta platforms.

In 2025, Polyarc released Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss, a PvP strategy spinoff set in the same universe. However, Glassbreakers seems to have failed to attract much of an audience. Polyarc encountered further struggles later in 2025, losing funding for one mid-development project and failing to secure an alternative ‘hail mary’ funding deal with a third-party publisher. This culminated in the Polyarc laying off two-thirds of its staff earlier this year.

Polyarc’s final release—Moss: The Forgotten Relic—arrived in July. Codeveloped by Blackbird Interactive, The Forgotten Relic is a compilation of the first two Moss games plus the original game’s expansion The Twilight Garden, all reworked as a traditional, non-VR experience. Like most of Polyarc’s output, the reception to The Forgotten Relic was very positive. However, the game clearly didn’t sell well enough to preserve what remained of the studio.

As part of its statement, Polyarc posted a link to a Google spreadsheet listing the 30 developers affected by Polyarc’s closure and their contacts, to help with future recruitment: “Working together over all of these years has been an honor. Bringing surprise and delight to those who played our games has been a privilege. Thank you to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now finished.”

As Polyarc winds down, all the Moss games (except Glassbreakers) are currently on sale, with The Forgotten Relic at 20% off, and the VR versions of Moss and Moss 2 at half-price. While The Forgotten Relic has been well received, if you have a VR headset, it’s well worth dusting it off to play both Moss games as they were originally designed to be experienced.