AltspaceVR reverses shutdown

irtual reality social network, AltspaceVR, said it will “live on”, despite announcing its imminent closure late last month.

In a blog post titled ‘AltspaceVR is back’, the company described recent weeks as a “rollercoaster ride” and said that it was able to continue due to “an outpouring of support”.

“We’re now deep in discussions with others who are passionate about AltspaceVR who want to guarantee that our virtual oasis stays open,” said the company.

“We feel confident saying to our community that you don’t need to find another place to meet your friends in virtual reality. AltspaceVR is not closing down.”

The news comes after Oculus founder Palmer Luckey indicated he could step in to help AltspaceVR in the wake of its initial shutdown announcement, tweeting: “Should I try to save @AltspaceVR? (caveat: may not be possible)”.

Luckey yesterday tweeted a link to the ‘AltspaceVR is back’ post without making any further comment on whether he was involved in the comeback.

AltspaceVR said at the end of July that I would close on August 3, citing “unforeseen financial difficulty”.

The venture-backed firm, which allows people to meet in a virtual environment, said that the combination of a failed funding round and the “general slowness of VR market growth” had made most of its investors “reluctant to fund us further”.

Separately, Linden Lab, the company behind Second Life, launched a virtual reality world called Sansar in public beta earlier this month.