{"id":1234282,"date":"2025-02-18T07:01:15","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T12:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234282"},"modified":"2025-02-18T07:01:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T12:01:15","slug":"max-mustard-studio-lays-off-majority-of-staff-closes-office-vows-to-continue-work-on-xr-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234282","title":{"rendered":"<div>\u2018Max Mustard\u2019 Studio Lays Off Majority of Staff &#038; Closes Office, Vows to Continue Work on XR Games<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-640x360-1.jpg\" class=\"webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"display: block; margin-bottom: 10px; clear: both; max-width: 100%;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-640x360-1.jpg 640w, https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-125x70.jpg 125w, https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-320x180.jpg 320w, https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-747x420.jpg 747w, https:\/\/roadtovrlive-5ea0.kxcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-681x383.jpg 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\"><\/p>\n<div style=\"margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/max-mustard-341x220-1.jpg\" width=\"341\" height=\"220\" title=\"Image courtesy Toast Interactive\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Toast Interactive, VR veteran studio behind <em>Richie\u2019s Plank Experience (2017)<\/em> and <em>Max Mustard (2024)<\/em>, announced it\u2019s closing office and laying off a majority of staff.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-122117\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Gold Coast, Australia-based studio revealed the news in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/toast_int\/status\/1891644623203754063\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">an X post<\/a>\u00a0(seen below), noting that the \u201cmajority of our talented staff have suffered redundancies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This follows the studio\u2019s first layoff round <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/toast_int\/status\/1852470674998305150\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in November 2024<\/a>, which affected 10 employees.\u00a0At the time, the studio maintained that while <em>Max Mustard<\/em> was \u201cone of the highest-rated games on both PSVR 2 and Meta Quest, it sadly can\u2019t sustain a large indie team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KYJ-VqNdijU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"Max Mustard | Official Trailer | Meta Quest Platform\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear the number of employees affected at the time of this writing. The studio says it isn\u2019t closing entirely however, noting that remaining staff \u201cwill continue to improve <em>Richie\u2019s Plank Experience<\/em> and <em>Max Mustard<\/em> with a lean approach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2016 by wife and husband team Toni and Richard Eastes, <em>Toast Interactive\u00a0<\/em>saw early success with the release of <em>Richie\u2019s Plank Experience<\/em>, which let users sync a physical plank to its virtual counterpart to tiptoe above death-defying heights.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/faNsP7ExSt0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen title=\"Richie's Plank Experience Oculus Quest Trailer\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Originally developed for HTC Vive, <em>Richie\u2019s Plank Experience<\/em> went on to support Rift, Quest and the original PSVR. Additionally, the studio says it\u2019s still developing a version for PSVR 2.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in 2024, the studio released the well-received VR platformer <em>Max Mustard,\u00a0<\/em>which felt like the spiritual successor to Sony Japan Studio\u2019s\u00a0<em>Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018).\u00a0<\/em>Initially launched on Quest 2 and above, the plucky platformer eventually made its way to SteamVR headsets and PSVR 2.<\/p>\n<p>This comes amid ongoing turbulence in the XR gaming industry, which largely began in early 2024, with significant closures including Meta\u2019s Ready at Dawn (<em>Lone Echo, Echo VR<\/em>), Sony\u2019s London Studio (<em>PlayStation Worlds, Blood &amp; Truth<\/em>), and indie developer Archiact (<em>DOOM 3 Quest port<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>More recently, several XR studios have downsized through staff layoffs, including VRChat, Fast Travel Games (<em>Action Hero, Mannequin<\/em>), Soul Assembly (<em>Drop Dead series<\/em>), XR Games (<em>Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded<\/em>),\u00a0and\u00a0nDreams (<em>Frenzies,\u00a0Vendetta Forever<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s Toast Interactive\u2019s full post:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"td_quote_box td_box_center\">\n<p>To everyone in the VR community: we are closing the Toast Interactive office. It\u2019s a heartbreaking decision that we never wanted to make. The majority of our talented team have suffered redundancies, and we will assist where we can with their next journey.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re incredibly grateful and proud of everything the team has accomplished. So much talent and passion went into the creation of Max Mustard and every single accolade speaks volumes. We will continue to improve Richie\u2019s Plank Experience and Max Mustard with a lean approach.<\/p>\n<p>We want to thank and acknowledge everyone who has been part of our journey at Toast.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<br \/>\nToni and Richard<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roadtovr.com\/max-mustard-studio-lays-off-majority-of-staff-closes-office-vows-to-continue-work-on-xr-games\/\">\u2018Max Mustard\u2019 Studio Lays Off Majority of Staff &amp; Closes Office, Vows to Continue Work on XR Games<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roadtovr.com\/\">Road to VR<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toast Interactive, VR veteran studio behind Richie\u2019s Plank Experience (2017) and Max Mustard (2024), announced it\u2019s closing office and laying off a majority of staff. The Gold Coast, Australia-based studio revealed the news in an X post\u00a0(seen below), noting that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1234282\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,110,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-games","category-unfiltered-rss","category-vr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1234282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234282\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1234282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1234282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1234282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}