Meta mercifully spun out VR fitness game Supernatural instead of just killing it
Meta will spin Supernatural into an independent company, ending fears the VR fitness app would be shut down after Meta stopped new content.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
After years of legal fighting to buy Within and then scaling back its VR push, Meta is letting Supernatural's team form Supernatural Health. The app will stay alive under a new independent company led by the original founders.
Meta bought a VR exercise game called Supernatural, then almost left it to sit still like a bike with flat tires. Now the people who made it first are taking it back and starting a new company so it can keep growing.
Analysis
What happened
Meta is spinning out Supernatural, the VR fitness app it acquired through Within in 2023, into a new independent company called Supernatural Health. The app is expected to transfer later this year, and the original founders will be behind the new company.
Why this matters
Supernatural stood out inside Meta's broader VR and metaverse push because users actually seemed to care about it. TechCrunch notes that Meta spent months fighting an FTC antitrust challenge to buy Within, a deal reportedly worth about $400 million, only to later lay off much of its VR team and say it would stop adding new content to the app.
That created a real risk that Supernatural would become a frozen product. Users protested that fate, and one public Facebook group member said they felt the app had been purchased only to be killed. Meta's decision to let the team leave suggests the company heard that backlash and chose to preserve one of the few VR offerings with a loyal audience.
What the company says
Supernatural Health says on its site that the product is being "reborn" with the same coaches and same focus on making fitness feel good. The company also says the transition reflects a shared belief that the community is best served by a focused, independent team. Meta said it was supportive throughout the transition, according to the article.
The result is unusual for big tech: a high-profile acquisition that ends not in a shutdown, but in a spinout that gives the product a second life under its original founders.
Key points
- Meta is spinning Supernatural out into a new independent company called Supernatural Health.
- The original founders will lead the new company, and the app is expected to transfer later this year.
- Meta had bought Within in 2023 after an FTC antitrust fight, with the deal reportedly worth about $400 million.
- Meta later laid off much of its VR team and said it would stop adding new content to Supernatural.
- Users protested, and the spinout avoids what many feared would be a quiet shutdown.
If the spinout works, Supernatural keeps its coaches, its identity, and its user community instead of being frozen in place. An independent company may also be able to focus more tightly on fitness updates than a giant platform company that has shifted priorities.
The move still shows how dependent the app was on Meta's willingness to support it, and that dependency may have already shaken user trust. An independent Supernatural Health will now need to sustain the app on its own without Meta's platform resources behind it.
