Meta is shutting down its custom AR studio — and creators are not happy

• Meta said it's shutting down its augmented-reality studio Spark early next year.
• The feature allows AR developers to make custom effects for apps like Instagram and Facebook.
• AR effects have become a mainstay of the short-video era, driving trends on TikTok and Snapchat.

Meta is shutting down its augmented-reality studio, Spark, a feature that allowed AR developers and brands to make custom effects for Instagram and Facebook.

The company wrote in a blog post that it plans to close down the feature on January 14, 2025. Spark first launched seven years ago.

The company will continue to make its own AR Effects available to users, but will remove filters created by third-party developers, it said.

"This decision is part of our larger efforts to prioritize the products we believe will best serve the future needs of our consumers and business customers alike," the company said.

Killing its AR studio could pose a risk for Meta as it seeks to compete with other social platforms like Snapchat and TikTok, which both offer robust developer tools and rewards programs for AR creators. Meta has also previously paid AR developers by hosting challenges and offering cash prizes to top-performing effects. Users have embraced augmented-reality effects for years as a way to try on makeup or make themselves look like a potato. Brands and marketers have leaned into AR effects as a way to drive up engagement.

The move comes as the company has shifted focus to artificial-intelligence tools and its large language model Llama. Meta has also recently been leaning into other mixed media experiences, including its camera glasses released in partnership with Ray-Ban. The company is expected to release its first true AR glasses at its developer conference in September.

These changes already have AR content creators fuming.

"I hate you so much Meta," said one comment underneath Meta's post announcing the changes in the Meta Spark Community Facebook page.

For many AR creators, Meta Spark is an important business tool.

Lita Heifetz, an AR creator based in Switzerland, told BI that more than half of the filters in her portfolio are built using Spark. Heifetz also works with brands on creating filters.

"This situation will definitely affect the creator community, since Instagram was a key platform for distributing AR effects, considering its global reach, so creators not only won't be able to publish their work here, but also won't be able to offer Instagram AR effects to their clients," Zuza Sliwinska, the COO of Poland-based AR marketing platform Lenslist, told BI.

In the meantime, creators will be flocking to tools elsewhere.

"It's going to shift a lot of artists to Snap," said Netherlands-based AR creator Danny Marree.

"Fortunately, there are still other platforms for AR, but losing such a big player is bad news for the whole AR community," Sliwinska said.