Google plans to close down its immersive film unit Spotlight Stories

	The studio would close now after making stories for more than six years and putting them in VR, on screens and on phones
	 
	Permanent employees of the Spotlight Stories are expected to be offered other roles within Google


Google has recently announced that the company is shutting down its in-house film studio, Spotlight Stories, which is focused on developing 360-degree videos for phones. The company said in a statement that Spotlight Stories is closing after making stories for more than six years and putting them in VR, on screens, on phones, and anywhere else the company was able to share it.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the studio, which released 13 films in its life span, had a really busy six years. These films included tie ins with the Wes Anderson film Isle of Dogs as well as The Simpsons, along with original films like Aardman Animation’s Special Delivery, Help (from Fast and the Furious director Justin Lin), and Pearl — which was nominated at the 2017 Academy Awards for Best Animated Short Film.

Google said in the statement that Spotlight Stories has made huge efforts to re-imagine VR storytelling since its inception. The Spotlight Stories team has left a long-lasting impact on immersive storytelling, from ambitious shorts like Back to The Moon, Sonaria and Son of Jaguar to critical acclaim for Pearl, which won an Emmy and was the first-ever VR film to be nominated for an Oscar.

Sources added that, Google is proud of the work the team has done over the years. It is also reported that the permanent employees of the studio are expected to be offered other roles in the company. Spotlight Stories had originally started as a team in Motorola, that used to produce exclusive 360-videos for the Android phones from the manufacturer.

However, Spotlight Stories became a part of Google after the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola by Google in 2011. The films of Spotlight Stories became more widely available in 2015, after its app came to YouTube’s 360-degree film platform, iOS, and non-Motorola Android devices.