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Echo VR shutdown

128ajb
Explorer
To whoever it may concern, 
 
I am deeply saddened by the news that EchoVR will be closing its doors on 1st August 2023. The Echo community is huge, established and it will be a great loss to many of us should the game disappear entirely. This is why I write to you today, to show that there is still demand for the game and I hope that you will reconsider your approach to close down the servers for Echo VR on the due date. 
 
We do not need much, or for the game to continue to be developed, simply the request to keep the servers open so that we can continue to enjoy and play this game with the friends we have made and the teams we have formed over the years since the game was released. 
 
If it is a matter of cost, I am willing to offer, along with many others, monetary contribution to upkeep the servers. A small subscription fee each month should be enough to keep your servers open and I hope you will read and consider this proposal.
 
The community is huge, still growing, and it would be a shame to cut its potential short. There are community members holding tournaments, finding funding for LAN events and all this hard work will be lost the moment you shut down the servers for this game. Some of us play it daily, for exercise, with friends and for mental health and all this will also be lost. 
 
There is no good reason to cut the life of the game short just because you are putting resources into another game. I am not asking much of you, simply to honour the community that has dedicated so much of their time, energy and sweat into what I believe to be one of the best e-sports in the VR world today. 
I hope this message finds the relevant people with power to overturn the decision in August.
 
I would like to stress the importance of Echo VR to our community and I sincerely hope that you / Meta, reconsiders the decision to shut down the servers on the 1st August 2023.
196 REPLIES 196

HopSauce
Honored Guest

Please do not get rid of it. It’s more than a game. I’ve been playing since 2019. I’ve never had a sport ripped from me. This is indescribable. Please allow open source or some way for us to play this game still. 

Lolz-
Honored Guest

Where to start...

I found echo from a "Top 50 free Oculus games" YouTube video back in 2018 before I even got my first Oculus Rift. Ever since that first day of weightlessness I've never looked back. This game has brought me so much joy and I'm not quite sure what I'll be left doing without it. I started playing consistently around the start of COVID and made my way up to the top of the ranks in a little less than a year. It served as *the* perfect escape from the reality at the time. This game was not only extremely fun to play, but it also lead to countless friendships that have lasted for years on years and will continue for many more I'm sure. 

I'm still at a loss trying to think of a single reason Meta and RAD could have thought of that outweighed the positive effect this game has had. Not only do I mean the effect on the VR game market, but also the vast community of players who, just like me, have made friends, lasting memories, and even careers. 

 

Not only does this effect all the players, but multiple large scale leagues/companies that have provided an immense amount of resources to aid VR and to help push VR-Sports into the mainstream. VRML, an organization that I have played in, but also volunteered for, has seen nothing but rapid growth since they introduced a competitive league for Echo VR. VRML season 1 saw 237 players gear up to compete to be the best of the best in this new sport that evidently was made to be *the* next E-sport. 3 years later, VRML season 7 now includes 6298 players and counting. A mix of proof of growth and excitement for the future of VR lead VRML to announce their first LAN event coming this June. VRML Con will include multiple VR games, but has the Echo VR Season 7 NA Grand Finals as the main event. Countless hours went into planning this event only for Meta and RAD to announce that echo will shut down just 2 months after.

VRML isn't the only league that is largely affected by this shutdown. National Esports Professional Association (NEPA) is having their 2nd annual charity cup this march. They're the first fully franchised VR-Sport league and have invested so much money and time into paying players, getting sponsors and forcing VR to be what it deserves to be.

 

Please. Please. If there is a chance to revert this decision, then this reaction from the community has to be proof that echo is worth fighting for. No VR community has done this before. This is your proof that VR is viable. You can fix this it is not too late. Save Echo VR.

Latzz-
Honored Guest

I started vr in December of 2021 and joined echo vr in May of 2022 I have been playing this game for about 9 months now and it's helped me get through another this game is what I play when I'm having a stressful time and the people you meet is just great I grown so much from a game where yoy throw a disk

 

Saul_Goodman0_0
Honored Guest

It brings great sadness to me that this amazing game is shutting down, it has been there when I needed it most, providing the most fun I’ve ever had and letting me meet the most amazing people, echo closing will be devastating to thousands, which is why I propose 2 ideas you have probably heard a million times already, but I think they are a good idea to keep the game running, 1. Make the game cost money to play, even a subscription would work for most because of how passionate we are about playing. 2. Player run servers, where you open a lobby and it is running off of your device instead of metas/RAD’s servers, I truly believe that this game staying open will not be a mistake, as it has a growing player base, and an amazing community, with more events than any other game I’ve seen. Thank you for reading

-Ryan

well said!
I 100% agree

I totally agree...it's not taking away a game, it's taking away a sport and that feels so much different.

Totally agree 

Same

#SAVEECHOVR

WEST-
Explorer

It was one of the first games I got, and has become the main game I play, I have made most of my VR friends playing this game and I enjoy being apart of the community. 

The game is so unique and is the most immersive VR game out atm. 

 

It is my most social able game and I don't want to lose that