In a quiet transfer that has largely gone unnoticed, all of Insomniac Video games’ high-budget PC VR titles have been faraway from the Oculus retailer. This was the one digital market the place they have been out there for buy.
The affected titles embody Stormland, Fringe of Nowhere, Feral Rites, and The Unstated. The delisting possible occurred a while in the past, however solely Insomniac and Sony might say precisely when it occurred. In keeping with studies from Blueksy user Dominic Tarason, retailer pages for these video games nonetheless exist on the Oculus platform, however they not show buy buttons or any indication that the titles are unavailable. That is possible why not many individuals knew about their elimination.
When Tarason contacted the shops concerning the delistings, Oculus retailer representatives reportedly informed him, “Ask Insomniac.” Sony and Insomniac sometimes don’t reply to those sorts of questions anyway, so it’s unlikely that we’ll get a response or acknowledgement until the businesses wish to say one thing.
Insomniac Video games launched these VR video games a number of years in the past, even earlier than Sony purchased it. Whereas it’s now a high-profile AAA studio, the VR video games do not replicate the corporate’s present developments of creating Marvel video games. Stormland, Insonmiac’s most up-to-date and best-known VR title, launched in November 2019. Fringe of Nowhere was launched in June 2016, whereas each Feral Rites and The Unstated went on the market in September 2016.
Those that beforehand bought these titles can nonetheless entry them regardless of being faraway from sale. Nevertheless, the entire disappearance of those video games from official channels has made preservation regarding. A few of these titles have turn into so completely unavailable that they can’t be discovered even on unofficial channels like pirate and torrent websites. Nevertheless, Stormland seems to be an exception (we cannot give any hyperlinks).
It is price noting that whereas these video games have been Oculus retailer exclusives, they weren’t essentially restricted to Oculus {hardware}. Gamers utilizing different VR headsets might reportedly entry these titles by workarounds like Digital Desktop software program, which permits video games from the Oculus retailer and different platforms to be performed on various headsets just like the Pico 4.
It occurred so quietly that seemingly not even @delistedgames.com seen it, however all of Insomniac’s massive, high-budget PC VR video games have been delisted from the one retailer that had them – the Oculus Stormland, Fringe of Nowhere, Feral Rites & The Unstated. I emailed the shop. They mentioned ‘Ask Insomniac’.
— Dominic Tarason (@dominictarason.com) 2025-03-01T14:16:55.754Z
It’s potential that if Insomniac retains the mental property rights to those video games, they may finally be ported to PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2), Sony’s digital actuality platform for PlayStation 5. Nevertheless, current developments in Sony’s VR technique appears to downplay this risk.
Sony lately introduced a big worth reduce for the PSVR2 headset, lowering it from its authentic $549 launch worth to $399.99. This worth discount follows studies from March 2023 that Sony had paused PSVR2 production to clear extra stock, suggesting that gross sales of the VR platform haven’t met expectations.
The substantial worth reduce practically a yr after launch signifies that Sony could also be struggling to achieve traction within the VR market. That is regardless of having unique VR experiences tied to common franchises like Horizon and Gran Turismo. Including extra video games to that library would price some huge cash, whilst a port, so that isn’t possible the present technique.
The shortage of economic profit is the almost definitely purpose for the delisting. The technical effort wanted to keep up older VR video games for contemporary headsets could be substantial. It isn’t simply the price of holding it on the shop but additionally updating it so it may be performed with each new replace for the units and shops. That is very true for titles launched in 2016 when VR know-how was nonetheless in its early business phases.
It is unlikely these video games will come again to storefronts. One of the best that gamers might hope for is a set or one thing related, however it’s troublesome to think about them coming again as particular person purchases once more. The fee to keep up them is probably going a lot greater than the revenue they have been making.
Supply: Dominic Tarason