VR camera maker Lytro is shutting down, and former employees are going to Google, by Adi Robertson

Futuristic “light field” camera maker Lytro is shutting down, according to a statement posted online. The company says that starting today, it will stop “taking on new productions and providing professional services,” as it prepares to “wind down” the company over an unspecified period of time. “We’re excited to see what new opportunities the future brings for the Lytro team as we go our separate ways,” says the statement. “We would like to thank the various communities that have supported us and hope that our paths will cross in the future.”

Lytro doesn’t say what will happen to the company’s patents or its employees. TechCrunchreported last week that Google was acquiring Lytro, and a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Verge that a large fraction of former Lytro employees will be joining Google. But contrary to last week’s rumors, the person says Google isn’t trying to supplement its own light-field photography experiments with Lytro tech. The team will apparently be spread across multiple divisions, and will not be continuing Lytro’s previous camera work. Google is acquiring some Lytro assets but without direct plans to integrate them into existing projects.