Polyarc, the Studio Behind Moss and Book II, Closes After Nearly 12 Years as 29 Staff Are Let Go

Polyarc, the Seattle studio behind the acclaimed Moss VR series, has shut down after nearly 12 years in business, ending operations for a developer that was once held up as a flagship of the PlayStation VR era.

The studio confirmed the closure in a farewell message posted to its LinkedIn page on September 11, 2026. Twenty-nine employees were dismissed, including co-founders Chris Alderson, Danny Bulla, and CEO Tam Armstrong. Polyarc circulated a spreadsheet of contact details and profiles for the affected staff to help them line up their next positions. The studio's statement read in part: "After nearly 12 years riding the joyous rollercoaster of emotions that is making video games, our time together has come to an end," closing with a line that has since been widely shared among VR fans: "Thank you to everyone at Polyarc, our work is now finished."

Polyarc was founded in 2015 by Armstrong, Bulla, and Alderson, all former Bungie developers who had worked on Destiny. The studio first made its name with Moss in 2018, a puzzle-adventure that let players reach into a diorama-like world to help its mouse heroine Quill solve puzzles and battle enemies. Moss: Book II followed in 2022 and won Best VR/AR Game at The Game Awards. Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss, a multiplayer spin-off released in 2025, was the studio's last new project before its non-VR compilation Moss: The Forgotten Relic shipped on July 16, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, Switch 2, and PC.

The shutdown was not a sudden development. Polyarc cut roughly two-thirds of its staff at the end of March 2026, after what it described as an unsuccessful team-wide effort to secure funding following the cancellation of a major unannounced project. The studio never publicly identified that project. Polyarc's closure comes less than a year after a wave of layoffs at Meta forced reductions at Bellevue-based VR studio Camouflaj and eight months after Meta's Reality Labs cuts led to the closure of Twisted Pixel, Sanzaru, and Armature Studio, underscoring a punishing stretch for the wider VR industry.

Despite the closure, Polyarc's back catalogue will remain available. Moss, Moss: Book II, Glassbreakers: Champions of Moss and Moss: The Forgotten Relic remain purchasable on their respective storefronts, so players can still pick up Quill's adventures on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Switch 2 and PC even as the studio that built her world winds down for good.