By Sagar V. Mankar 
Toast Interactive, an Australian virtual reality game developer, has announced the closure of its office and layoffs affecting most of its staff.
The studio founders Toni and Richard Eastes announced this news on social media.
While the exact number of affected employees wasn’t disclosed, the company confirmed that the majority of its team would face redundancy.
Despite the office closure, Toast Interactive plans to maintain development of its two main titles, Richie’s Plank Experience and Max Mustard, albeit with a significantly smaller team.
The studio has been a notable player in the VR gaming space since its founding in 2016, when it launched Richie’s Plank Experience – a psychological VR game that challenges players to walk across a virtual plank from an 80-story skyscraper.
More recently, the company released Max Mustard in 2024, a VR platformer featuring 40 levels of combined first-person and third-person gameplay.
— Toast Interactive (@toast_int) February 18, 2025
These layoffs are part of a broader trend affecting the video game industry since 2023. According to industry reports, nearly 1,000 gaming professionals have already lost their jobs across 30 different companies in just the first few weeks of 2025.
The wave of cutbacks has touched major players including Microsoft’s gaming division, Rocksteady (creators of the Batman: Arkham series), Unity, and Ubisoft.
Other companies implementing recent workforce reductions include Reflector Entertainment, Huuuge Games, Moon Active, Iron Galaxy, HiRez, 10:10 Games, Crytek, Liquid Swords, and just today NetEase’s US team behind Marvel Rivals.
The studio’s founders expressed gratitude for their team’s achievements and committed to helping affected staff members transition to new opportunities in the industry.