Games Government Jason Rubin Leaves Meta After 12 Years

Jason Rubin has left Meta after 12 years, having been VP of Content at Oculus, Facebook, after which Meta, with numerous official titles.

Rubin was the second longest standing government from the 2014 period of Oculus nonetheless at Meta, with Michael Abrash (nonetheless at Meta) being the primary.

In an announcement, Rubin described the choice to depart as “difficult”, saying that he has “nothing but deep appreciation” for Meta management, and stating that he is “incredibly proud” of his work and excited for the way forward for VR and Horizon.

“This was a difficult decision and I have nothing but deep appreciation for Mark and Boz’s leadership, gratitude to the company, love for my coworkers, and excitement for our Horizon and VR roadmap.

I’m incredibly proud of multiple eras of my work at Meta. I helped to build the Oculus Content team, Meta’s first content production and dev rel organization, and producing a lot of highly reviewed and industry applauded titles. I’m also proud of building the Metaverse Creative Team, empowering Design and Art, and raising our quality bar.

Why now? And the answer is relatively boring: This seems like a good time. I am going to chase animals with a camera. You can follow the results on my Instagram.”

In 1984 Rubin co-founded Naughty Dog, the sport studio behind Rings of Power, Way of the Warrior, Crash Bandicoot, and Jak and Daxter, in addition to (after Rubin left) Uncharted and The Last Of Us.

He left Naughty Dog in 2004, and have become the president of writer THQ in 2012. However, by this time THQ was already virtually useless, and Rubin was unable to reserve it, with the corporate going bankrupt lower than a 12 months later.

In 2014, Rubin joined Oculus VR, just a few months after Facebook introduced it was buying the startup.

E3 2019: Q&A With Oculus’ Jason Rubin On Quest, Rift, Go And Valve Index

At E3 this week in Los Angeles I performed an early demo model of official 360-degree songs from Beat Saber and discovered to steer a kayak in VR. Afterward, I went to get lunch with Senior Editor David Jagneaux and we discovered Jason Rubin “VP of Special Gaming Strategies” at

Initially Head of Worldwide Studios, by 2016 Rubin’s title had shifted to VP of Content. He managed the primary and second celebration content material initiatives for the Oculus Rift, delivering a powerful launch content material lineup for each the Xbox gamepad the Rift was initially shipped with and the Oculus Touch controllers that shipped eight months later.

His official title modified a number of occasions through the years as Oculus was absorbed into Facebook after which as the corporate rebranded to Meta, and his function expanded to cowl extra of the corporate’s gaming and content material initiatives.

In 2018 he turned Facebook’s VP of AR/VR Content & Partnerships, in 2019 the VP of Special Gaming Initiatives, in 2020 the VP of Play, and in 2021 the VP of Metaverse Content / Creative.

In these expanded roles, in addition to Quest, he turned liable for gaming on Facebook Portal, Messenger, and Facebook Cloud Gaming. Essentially, Rubin was Mark Zuckerberg’s gaming chief.

Meta Closes Deadpool VR, Asgard’s Wrath & Resident Evil 4 VR Studios

Meta has shut down Twisted Pixel Games (Deadpool VR), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath), and Armature Studio (Resident Evil 4 VR), UploadVR can verify.

Of course, whereas Rubin’s acknowledged motive for leaving is to pursue wildlife pictures, the timing is notable. The departure comes simply two months after Meta shut down three of its acquired VR recreation studios, performed important layoffs at a fourth, and canceled the Batman: Arkham Shadow sequel. Rubin had labored intently with these studios for the higher a part of a decade, and whereas we cannot put phrases in his mouth, it appears unlikely that his departure after so lengthy is solely unrelated to Meta’s technique shift.