Supernatural won’t be in ‘maintenance mode’ for long, because Meta announced it’s effectively spun out the VR fitness app into an independent company, Supernatural Health.
The founders and coaches behind Supernatural are parting ways with Meta. Soon, users can look forward to more fresh content, which has notably been missing from the subscription-based VR fitness app since Meta announced in January that it would no longer be pushing content updates as a part of a wider pullback from VR gaming.
And it’s going to be clean break, as the new studio says in a community post that Supernatural is set to be independent from Meta, and will be a new, separate app in Quest’s Horizon Store.
While the current version of Supernatural will be winding down on December 3rd, which includes all associated subscriptions, the studio expects the new app to launch later this fall, noting it plans to build “major parts of the technology from the ground up as a much smaller company.”
That also means subscription prices will change from its current $10/month, or $100/year rate:
“A while back, the subscription price was lowered to make Supernatural more accessible, and we still believe in that goal. To keep building independently, and continue delivering the experience you expect, we need to return to the original $20/month and we haven’t made that decision lightly.”
The studio says it’s offering a ‘Founding Member’ rate, which will cost $180 for the first year. After that, the price jumps to $20/month, or $200/year. That said, the upcoming version of Supernatural will include all original coaches “back on day one,” as well as new workouts and future features.
“The early days won’t be perfect, but our small team is committed to building the Supernatural you know and love and taking it to the next level,” the studio says. “We are so grateful for everything you’re capable of, in the app and outside of it. Thank you for showing up for Supernatural, and for each other.”
This follows a lengthy battle to acquire Supernatural, which seems so distant now in retrospect. In late 2021, Meta announced it was acquiring Within, the studio behind Supernatural, for a whopping $400 million.
It wasn’t a smooth transition though, as the deal quickly drew the ire of the US Federal Trade Commission, which claimed Meta was unfairly monopolizing the VR fitness space. After more than a year of costly antitrust battles, the FTC eventually dropped the suit in early 2023, noting that it would seek no further appeal.
The post Meta is Spinning out ‘Supernatural’ a Mere 3 Years After $400M Acquisition appeared first on Road to VR.
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