Meta acquires Within, the company behind VR fitness game Supernatural; Within will continue working on the game and help Meta improve future VR hardware
The company already owns Beat Saber — Meta has announced that the studio behind VR workout game Supernatural will be joining the company …
The VergeMitchell Clark
Context & Ripple Effects
Meta was already building a VR software catalog around Beat Saber; bringing Within inside the company adds a fitness-oriented service and a team explicitly tied to future hardware work. The deal therefore links content ownership with Meta's device roadmap rather than treating Supernatural as a standalone game.
Within joins Meta while continuing to develop Supernatural, giving Meta control of another established VR fitness experience alongside Beat Saber.
Meta gains Within's product team as an input to future VR hardware work, tying the studio's game-development experience to device design.
Second-order effects
The FTC's later probe made the acquisition a test of whether Meta could add VR content studios to its platform without antitrust intervention.
Meta's ownership of both Beat Saber and Supernatural raises the strategic value of exclusive fitness and rhythm content in its VR ecosystem.
Third-order effects
Meta's 2026 decision to stop new Supernatural content amid Reality Labs studio closures and later spin the business out shows that VR-content integration can be reversed when the parent changes investment priorities.
If that pattern persists, VR software studios may be treated less as permanently captive content and more as flexible assets whose ownership follows hardware and platform strategy.
The trend: VR platform owners are using content acquisitions to support hardware ecosystems, while later cost and regulatory pressures can limit or unwind that vertical integration.
Fitness in VR has brought people together over a renewed sense of joy in movement. We look forward to partnering with Within to grow and accelerate their vision for fitness experiences and explore other areas centered around social, community, and beyond: https://www.oculus.com/.…
So, remember what I said about VR Fitness? @FBRealityLabs “Meta” just acquired @getsupernatural Looks like the data was showing I was right. https://www.cnet.com/...
Facebook (Meta) just bought another game company. But this is a fitness company, subscription workouts, that pair with Apple Watch heart rate https://www.cnet.com/...
@EricPresidentVR ... Yo Facebook doesn't have any vision except getting out from under Apple This vision is just them watching data trends from usage on their platform, that's it They don't have any ethos, the leaks prove that Ffs I promised I'd take a break from Twitter
I'm a huge fan of Supernatural personally, and the community they've built around fitness in VR is truly inspiring. I'm looking forward to having them join us and bring more joyful experiences to the metaverse. https://twitter.com/...
@jank0 @MikeIsaac If top-selling Beat Saber which is really fun, a great cardio workout, and keeps adding new content, can't sustain its peak (and still relatively small) CCU, why does Facebook think they can do better? https://nwn.blogs.com/...
@tacolamp ... MR devices will be far more restrictive than any other computing platforms — including phones. That's the sad reality. All the big use cases will be dominated by BigTech. But one lever that still might exist is cross-ecosystem support.
@benedictevans @MsHannahMurphy Not for all of them, but Supernatural was absolutely making money and growing faster than Peleton based on what I've heard
If I was an antitrust regulator, I'd be less concerned about emails Mark Zuckerberg wrote in 2013 and more concerned that Facebook is acquiring every VR start-up with a pulse. https://www.oculus.com/...
Whether because of the pandemic or because it's genuinely a great platform, Supernatural continued to grow despite being the most expensive monthly fitness service by a considerable margin. Facebook couldn't compete with this, so it acquired Supernatural instead.
22. I just saw that Facebook is still making acquisitions to monopolize yet another space. Without actual meaningful penalties, this will not stop. https://twitter.com/...
@tacolamp They want to own it all, so expect acquisitions of social apps like VRChat or RecRoom, heck they might even go all out and acquire Capcom to get the Resident Evil IP permanently under their wing for that AAA game content in the metaverse.
Supernatural is $19/month, and in VR scale has a fairly significant audience. There are very few successful monthly subscription services in VR, and only one at this price point.
@alexeheath @MsHannahMurphy Is there a viable independent business for them? I get the impression there was a lot of experimental budget around a few years ago but that's all dried up now, and the actual use base is still small.
The founder was the first one to show me modern VR. Smart move to get out. Apple's fitness service is better. Way better. Why? Ecosystem integration. https://twitter.com/...
I've spent more time in Supernatural than any other VR app. And because ... Meta owns the Oculus Store, it has perfect data on time spent + revenue. It's their new Onavo. So it's not too surprising that Supernatural belongs to Meta now https://www.theverge.com/...
Back in April of 2020, when Supernatural first started getting some buzz, the Facebook-owned Beat Saber released the track Fitbeat in response. It was super clear this single track was released as a reaction to Supernatural, but it was not enough to detract from this success.
@alexeheath ... Apple is working on a fitness service that is way way way better. Shit, Apple Fitness already is way better. And I love Supernatural and have used it many hours. The founder @milk was the first to show me modern-day VR too. Great sale. Got out at the right time.
@boztank Stop acquiring every company that gains any traction in this space! A healthy industry can't grow if they just get consumed by the the largest player in the space. Unless controlling the entire space is the point. I think the answer to that is pretty clear by your action…
I love Supernatural. I think the team is amazing. I think this is going to be great for the owners. I really don't love this news, though. Supernatural has been instrumental in my fitness journey. And now Facebook is going to own my workout data. https://twitter.com/...