Meta announces the closure of Spark AR services, allowing other companies to create AR effects for apps within the Meta ecosystem, effective January 14, 2024.
Originating in 2017 as the Facebook Camera Effect Platform, Spark AR was designed for creating effects and playfulness for features like video calls in Messenger, enabling users to add special cartoon stickers. It was later rebranded as Spark AR and expanded to other apps within the company, such as Instagram.
The Spark AR platform features an app for creators called Meta Spark Studio, where effects can be scripted using JavaScript. Brands are invited to create fun effects for promoting their own brand to the millions of users within the Meta ecosystem.
Meta’s announcement signifies the shut down of all external brand AR effects, leaving users with only Meta’s own effects to utilize.
Meta justifies the decision to close Spark AR due to a newly prioritized ranking within the company, likely stemming from budget cuts within the Reality Labs department overseeing the entire AR/VR business. With the Metaverse business still incurring heavy losses and recently shutting down a game development studio for Meta Quest, changes were deemed necessary.
Source: Meta, Meta, TechCrunch
TLDR: Meta is shutting down Spark AR services, restricting the use of AR effects to only those created by Meta within its ecosystem, citing internal reorganization and budget cuts as reasons for the decision.
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