PowerWash Simulator garnered viral success when it launched on Steam Early Access in 2021, prompting developer FuturLab to not only add a mountain of DLC to the game, but also port the flatscreen hit to a standalone VR title. Now, the studio says it’s shelving PowerWash Simulator VR (2023) only 14 months since its launch on Quest.
The team released the news in a post on X, seen below in full:
“I am so sorry to let you know that we won’t be continuing support of PowerWash Simulator VR. We absolutely love and believe in VR, so this doesn’t mean that we won’t support it in the future but we aren’t able to continue with support right now.
We have been faced with a cross roads: we have a truly excellent and kind VR team who were working on a platform which costs us more than it makes, while also having a list of job openings that were looking to be filled on other projects. We took the decision to redeploy our VR team into those other projects/roles. Whilst I would love to live in a world where we could support PowerWash Simulator on every platform going, I will always choose job security for my team. Every time. While I know that you must be so disappointed, I also know that if you were in my position you would have made the same decision.
– Kirsty Rigden, CEO, FuturLab
The studio further notes that, while it’s ending future updates and DLC content, the VR-native base game and existent DLC packs will still be purchasable and playable on Quest via the Horizon Store, and that saves will also be safe, however just don’t expect updates or DLC of any kind.
It’s difficult to prognosticate why the VR game didn’t meet expectations, or even what the studio’s expectations of the game were in the first place. What is certain though is the game’s sales were significantly lower that the PC version, both of which were priced at $25.
At the time of this writing PowerWash Simulator VR has garnered a [4.3/5] user rating from over 1,100 users. On Steam, the game boasts over 43,000 lifetime user reviews, giving it an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ score.
As the game’s name suggests, PowerWash Simulator tasks you with using your trusty power washer and blasting away every speck of dirt and grime you can find, capitalizing on the fad that took YouTube by storm starting in 2018 and serving up a Zen-like casual gameplay experience. And the VR version is pretty much what you’d expect, giving users the ability to pressure wash by hand and swap out nozzles on the fly.
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