Over the past couple of years Facebook has been consolidating its virtual reality (VR) content output by acquiring some of the most prominent studios in the industry, and this week another has been added to that roster, BigBox VR. The studio is best known for its battle royale title Population: One which launched last year and will continue to improve the videogame under Facebook’s umbrella.
Population: One has seen huge success since its launch nine months ago for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets. In that time BigBox VR has released a continual stream of updates and seasonal content. At the moment Population: One – Season 2: The Frontier is underway and this month also saw the arrival of a Team Deathmatch mode.
The acquisition will see the entire BigBox VR team join Oculus Studios whilst maintaining the indie studios’ culture. “We’re excited to help BigBox VR grow and accelerate their vision for POPULATION: ONE as a state-of-the-art VR social gaming experience, as well as pursue future projects, with access to the resources and support of Facebook and Oculus Studios, all while maintaining the team’s creativity, disciplined methodology, and commitment to community,” said Mike Verdu, VP of Content at Facebook Reality Labs on the Oculus Blog.
Just like previous studio purchases Population: One won’t suddenly become an Oculus platform exclusive, it’ll continue to be supported across current VR platforms. With Facebook’s backing expect plenty more content for Population: One to arrive in the future.
Facebook’s studio acquisitions have begun to pick up speed of late. Beat Games (Beat Saber) was the first to be bought in 2019 followed by Asgard’s Wrath creator Sanzaru Games in early 2020. That same year Lone Echo developer Ready At Dawn was picked up, then last month Downpour Interactive, the team behind Onward revealed it had been acquired.
Expect more in the future, with Verdu noting: “We’re exploring many ways to accelerate VR, including investments in third-party content, AAA IP, hardware, and more, and we have awesome and innovative plans for the next few years of gaming.” For further updates on the latest VR studio acquisitions, keep reading VRFocus.
Coinsmart. Beste Bitcoin-Börse in Europa
Source: https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/06/population-one-dev-bigbox-vr-acquired-by-facebook/
