Meta Is Shutting Down Its Popular VR Fitness App Based on the TV Series “Supernatural.”
This week, Supernatural users were in for an unpleasant surprise: Meta discontinued support for its flagship virtual reality fitness app. Citing “organizational changes,” Meta announced it would no longer release new content or update features for Supernatural .
However, the app isn’t shutting down completely. Subscribers will still be able to access Supernatural’s existing library of Beat Saber workouts, and Meta says it will maintain the platform and Facebook page, but no new workouts, features, or other content are planned.
Supernatural has received positive reviews from users and critics alike— CNet gave it a 9 out of 10 , the app won a Fast Company award for Best App in 2020 and a Webby Award in 2023 , and has been featured in ads featuring celebrities like Jane Fonda and Bon Jovi. Meta doesn’t publish Supernatural’s subscriber count, but the Supernatural Facebook community boasts over 110,000 members. Apparently, that’s not enough to justify the app’s continued existence.
In 2021, Meta spent around $400 million to acquire Supernatural developer Within, even battling the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to secure the deal, and the app was heavily marketed as part of the company’s overall strategy to create a “Metaverse.”
A meta-shift from virtual reality to wearables with artificial intelligence
The closure of Supernatural is part of a larger shift at Meta. This week, the company laid off 1,500 people—about 10% of its workforce—from Reality Labs, Meta’s hardware and virtual reality division. “Last month, we announced we were shifting some of our investments from Metaverse to wearables. This is part of that effort,” a Meta spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal .
Along with the cuts at Supernatural , Meta is closing three studios that have created some of the most acclaimed, high-quality VR games: Armature, which released Resident Evil 4 for VR, Sanzaru, which created Asgard’s Wrath , and Twisted Pixel, the creators of Deadpool VR .