Facebook continually buys smaller companies it sees are worth bringing under its banner, with the latest being virtual reality (VR) studio Ready At Dawn; the team behind the Lone Echo franchise among others.
Ready At Dawn has a long history in videogames, creating titles like Daxter and The Order: 1886 before moving into VR development. The studio’s first was the epic sci-fi adventure Lone Echo which was well received by gamers and critics alike. This was then followed by multiplayer videogames Echo Arena and Echo Combat, pitting players against one another in zero-g environments.
Currently in development is Lone Echo II which was originally slated for a 2019 launch, before being pushed into 2020. Recently the team said that even with the coronavirus pandemic and remote working, Lone Echo II should be arriving later this year.
All of Ready At Dawn’s VR titles have been for Oculus headsets so Facebook has now secured that knowledge and expertise going into the future. Ready At Dawn will now be part of the Oculus Studios team although it’ll remain as an independent studio working from its current offices in Irvine and Portland. And all jobs will be secure with the entire team transfering over.
As for further details on Lone Echo II the studio had none to share at this time. An Oculus blog post did have this to say: “Ready At Dawn has exciting plans for future games, and we hope to bring those experiences to as many people as possible, but we’re not ready to share details at this time.”
Ready At Dawn joins Sanzaru Games which Facebook purchased earlier this year. Sanzaru Games is the studio behind VR Sports Challenge, MARVEL Powers United VR and Asgard’s Wrath. The acquisitions help Facebook solidify exclusive content for its VR headsets from teams now well versed in immersive content development. As and when further studio purchases are made, VRFocus will let you know.