When Beat Saber first debuted back in 2018, it took the world by storm, instantly becoming one of VR’s most popular games and spawning a wide community. The title was a viral sensation on YouTube, and even picked up a best VR game nomination at last year’s Game Awards. Beat Games, the studio behind the popular rhythm game, is no doubt destined for great things, and with new reports that the studio has been bought by a major social media company, it will no doubt have the budget to fund them.
The company in question is none other than Facebook, who is acquiring Beat Games and bringing it under the Oculus Studios umbrella. This company will, however, remain independent, and seemingly won’t have to remain entirely exclusive to the Oculus brand.
Mike Verdu, content director for Oculus, claimed that Beat Games’ new titles would release across all major VR platforms and wouldn’t have to remain only on Oculus systems, which opens a lot of leeway to what Beat Games can do next. It appears Facebook’s reasoning for purchasing the studio isn’t to acquire a traditional first-party studio, but more to give a small developer like Beat Games more resources and budget to expand upon its sensational first idea. It’s a commendable goal, and one that will no doubt produce some awe-inspiring results.
Facebook purchased Oculus all the way back in 2014, jumping on the VR bandwagon by offering a substantial amount of money to get in on the project. Seeing as Oculus was the first major VR headset to make its way onto the scene, this was a massive acquisition that showed Facebook wanted to make a major move when it came to gaming as a whole. Since then, Oculus has remained one of the biggest names in VR, securing a number of exclusives and trying to cement virtual reality as far more than just a simple gimmick.
Aiding growing VR developers like Beat Games will no doubt help to further this transition, especially as Beat Saber was one of the first VR titles to attract major viral attention. Of course, the genre has been growing exponentially in recent years regardless, with Valve even recently announcing a new Half-Life game that will only be playable with a VR headset. Let’s hope that this newfound attention and a bigger-budget for growing VR devs like Beat Games means we get even more sensational titles that show off the endless potential virtual reality has.
Beat Saber is available now on PC and PlayStation 4