Facebook-owned Oculus is winding down VR Story Studio

San Francisco : Facebook-owned Oculus is winding down its in-house virtual reality (VR) Story Studio in a bid to shift focus on funding outside creators.

Story Studio was launched in 2015 as a new art form of real-time storytelling. The Studio created award-winning VR shorts, including Henry that bagged Emmy Award.

"After careful consideration, we've decided to shift our focus away from internal content creation to support more external production. As part of that shift, we'll be winding down Story Studio," said Jason Rubin, Vice President of Content at Oculus, in a blog post on Thursday.

The company will now focus on funding and supporting content of large community of filmmakers and developers who are committed to the narrative VR art form.

Oculus will fund $50 million to non-gaming, experiential VR content to to help artists jumpstart the innovative VR ideas.

The company will also continue to provide video tutorials, production and distribution tips, best practices for VR development to help creators get started. 

"Our goal is to inspire creators across all mediums and genres-filmmakers, musicians, painters, writers, cartoonists, and more-to bring their VR ideas to life," Rubin added.

Story Studio has produced a total of three short films -- Lost, Henry and Dear Angelica -- and they remain some of the best-known pieces of VR cinema.