Last month Intel quietly shut down Intel Studios, its 10,000-square-foot AR/VR volumetric capture stage in LA that opened in 2018
Janko Roettgers / Protocol : Tweets: @xrandrew , @scobleizer , and @hugocguerra Tweets: Andrew Woodberry / @xrandrew : Tough news for Volumetric fans like myself. This space was colossal... more suited for games/entertainment and I don't believe ever used for WebAR(?) LA still has Metastage, mobile Tetavi studio, etc. Still in good shape considering it's the entertainment capital of the world. https://twitter.com/... Robert Scoble / @scobleizer : Sad. Irena and I visited here to do research for our book. https://twitter.com/... Hugo Guerra / @hugocguerra : That is so disappointing, volumetric capture is amazing and I hope it doesn't go away! I has involved in a project using volume capture and the results in VR were incredible. Real shame we lost this stage! https://www.protocol.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Intel Studios opened in 2018 as a flagship volumetric capture bet, arriving just as the first VR retreat was underway: Google had pulled out of IMAX's canceled VR camera, IMAX closed its New York VR center weeks later, and Disney-backed Jaunt pivoted to volumetric capture after gutting its VR work. Intel's quiet shutdown of the 10,000-square-foot LA stage closes its own chapter in that same wave.
The timing matters for Intel specifically: the company is now funding a turnaround built on AI-driven CPU demand under Lip-Bu Tan, backed by a $20B upsized share sale, and a bespoke capture stage is a legacy bet that no longer fits that capital plan. Per the coverage, LA retains Metastage and mobile studio Tetavi, so the city's volumetric capacity shrinks but does not disappear.
First-order effects
- LA productions in games and entertainment lose the largest volumetric capture stage in the entertainment capital, and any bookings must shift to smaller remaining operators like Metastage and Tetavi.
- Intel exits a capital-intensive physical facility, redirecting spend toward the AI/CPU turnaround that its share sale and current business momentum are built around.
Second-order effects
- The surviving LA specialists — Metastage, Tetavi — are positioned to absorb displaced demand, consolidating volumetric capture around smaller shops rather than corporate flagships.
- With Meta also closing VR gaming studios in its Reality Labs cuts, the pool of deep-pocketed companies funding immersive content infrastructure keeps thinning, pressuring the supplier ecosystem that depended on their stages.
Third-order effects
- The arc from 2018's Jaunt and IMAX retreats through Meta's 2026 studio closures points to a durable pattern: big tech funds owned immersive-capture infrastructure only while it serves a strategic narrative, then withdraws when capital reallocates — here toward AI compute.
- If that holds, volumetric production settles into a specialist-led industry where small studios carry the capability, and any revival depends on a platform owner choosing to fund capture as core infrastructure again.
The trend: Big tech is steadily exiting owned immersive-capture infrastructure, leaving volumetric production to small specialists as corporate capital concentrates in AI compute.