Meta is ending support for the Quest 1 headset

Meta is axing support for its Quest 1 virtual reality headset four years after the device launched.

As highlighted by UploadVR, the company (formerly known as Facebook) said owners will still be able to use the Quest 1 headset and available app, but that it will no longer be shipping new features for the device.

In an email, Meta said it will continue maintaining the system software with "critical bug fixes and security patches until 2024," but after that it seems like anybody who still uses the VR headset will be on their own.

Notably, some social features are also being scrapped, with Meta noting that "Quest 1 users will no longer be able to create or join a party" or take advantage of other Meta Horizon Home features—including the ability to visit someone else's Home—from March 5, 2023.

There has been a lot of change at Meta in recent months. Back in November, the company laid off over 11,000 workers, including members of the Reality Labs division (which houses its game studios and hardware maker Oculus).

Meta said the layoffs would affect 13 percent of its entire workforce, but company CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the process will help it become "leaner and more efficient."

Just over a month after those layoffs were announced, game industry veteran John Carmack departed Meta after almost a decade.

Carmack said the move signaled the end of his involvement in VR development, and claimed that Meta has become a "grossly inefficient" company that manages to squander a "ridiculous amount of people and resources."