{"id":173513,"date":"2026-01-17T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T12:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:00:11","slug":"metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\/","title":{"rendered":"Meta\u2019s layoffs leave Supernatural fitness users in mourning"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Tencia Benavidez, a Supernatural user who lives in New Mexico, started her VR workouts during the Covid pandemic. She has been a regular user in the five years since, calling the ability to work out in VR ideal, given that she lives in a rural area where it\u2019s hard to get to a gym or work out outside during a brutal winter. She stuck with Supernatural because of the community and the eagerness of Supernatural\u2019s coaches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey seem like really authentic individuals that were not talking down to you,\u201d Benavidez says. \u201cThere&#8217;s just something really special about those coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meta bought Supernatural in 2022, folding it into its then-heavily-invested-in metaverse efforts. The purchase was not a smooth process, as it triggered a lengthy legal battle in which the US Federal Trade Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2022\/07\/ftc-seeks-block-virtual-reality-giant-metas-acquisition-popular-app-creator-within\">tried to block Meta<\/a> from purchasing the service due to antitrust concerns about Meta \u201ctrying to buy its way to the top\u201d of the VR market. Meta ultimately prevailed. At the time, some Supernatural users were cautiously optimistic, hoping that big bag of Zuckerbucks could keep its workout juggernaut afloat.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2026\/01\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\/\">Read full article<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/arstechnica.com\/gadgets\/2026\/01\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\/#comments\">Comments<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tencia Benavidez, a Supernatural user who lives in New Mexico, started her VR workouts during the Covid pandemic. She has been a regular user in the five years since, calling the ability to work out in VR ideal, given that she lives in a rural area where it\u2019s hard to get to a gym or work out outside during a brutal winter. She stuck with Supernatural because of the community&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Meta\u2019s layoffs leave Supernatural fitness users in mourning - UshopWell.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meta\u2019s layoffs leave Supernatural fitness users in mourning - UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tencia Benavidez, a Supernatural user who lives in New Mexico, started her VR workouts during the Covid pandemic. She has been a regular user in the five years since, calling the ability to work out in VR ideal, given that she lives in a rural area where it\u2019s hard to get to a gym or work out outside during a brutal winter. She stuck with Supernatural because of the community...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ushopwell.com\/ublog\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UshopWell.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-17T12:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"UShopWell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"UShopWell\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6fd1f9e0ff932e534c86c70d5acff0fc\"},\"headline\":\"Meta\u2019s layoffs leave Supernatural fitness users in mourning\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-17T12:00:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":199,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ushopwell.com\\\/ublog\\\/metas-layoffs-leave-supernatural-fitness-users-in-mourning\\\/\",\"name\":\"Meta\u2019s layoffs leave Supernatural fitness users in mourning - 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