musicians, designers and artists bring to the game with each new update. The game’s audience has opened up massively since it came to Quest 2/3/Pro in April - and soon it will grow even larger when the game comes to non-VR players on PS5 in late summer. It’s a game that keeps on giving and I feel privileged and proud to be one of the people behind it.
Patrick O’Luanaigh: big releases (like Asgards Wrath 2, Saints and to be such an uncharted space, so for me, new original gameplay which works well in playing some of the amazing games that come into our 3rd party publishing team from some amazing studios!
Q.
Most would accept that there’s a lack of “triple-A” games for XR, but does it or should it matter?
Patrick O’Luanaigh: This is far less true than it used to be, and by all accounts there is much more to come. We’ve seen Assassins Creed, Horizon and Resident Evil in VR; Batman, Alien, Hitman and Dungeons & Dragons are all still to come.
VR games are getting bigger, too. Look at
Asgard’s Wrath 2, which many players are reported to have spent more than 250 hours in. Equally, we know that a game doesn’t have to be traditionally “triple-A” to be as (or more) popular. The likes of Among Us, PowerWash Simulator, Roblox, Beat Saber and more are all phenomenally successful and loved by millions of players, and they’re all on VR platforms as well. Of course we’d love to see more amazing games in VR, be they triple-A, indie or live service. But we’re actually very encouraged by the developments we’re seeing in all areas, with the games catalogue for XR platforms growing and diversifying all the time.
Paul Brady: With new platform shifts comes what we feel is the even greater opportunity for new IP to emerge. Yes, known IP can help pull in new users and possibly validate, but the real opportunity and interesting outcome from a new platform shift is the IP that is created there and
Henry Stockdale: With mods, it’s hard to VR games. It’s opened the door to playing hundreds of games in VR.
Ben Clements: It’s a staggering achievement. Even at the most basic level it’s beyond impressive that this one piece of software can attach to almost any Unreal Engine 4 or 5 product and instantly give us a playable VR experience... but then as you dig deeper and learn the intricacies of the software it’s almost unbelievable what this thing can do. The fact the mod and then potentially turn it into a fully motion controlled VR game that in some instances feels close to a native product in under half an hour (sometimes as fast as 10 felt for a long time.
becomes mainstream because of it, which in turn brings in new players and excitement for the platform. Ben Clements: I feel like “triple-A” means to the size, scale, quality or development cost Theft Auto, Elden Ring or Zelda etc... but we do have VR games that I would refer to as “triple-A” within the context of the wider medium. There put out VR experiences at the highest quality and level of polish, some even publish smaller VR creator’s games or help to bring large well known IP into the VR space, such as the full getting this year thanks to the team at Vertigo. I’d say these studios, despite being small when developers, represent VR’s own “triple-A” studios who are capable of delivering exceptionally high quality games. I think the real issue isn’t that investment from traditional “triple-A” studios who could provide well known IP and experiences that
Yes, known IP can help pull in new users, but the real opportunity is the IP that is created and becomes mainstream, which in turn brings in new players and
excitement for the platform”
June/July 2024 MCV/DEVELOP | 23
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