The ForeVR team is working on a total of six brand-new VR games.
ForeVR arrived on the scene last year with the launch of ForeVR Bowl, a Quest bowling game that favored realistic physics and social interaction. It followed that released up with ForeVR Darts in late 2021, which offered a similar experience. In a press release this month, though, the studio mentions that it’s working on another six titles, three of which are expected to release in 2022.
New ForeVR Games Incoming
Judging by the studio’s previous track record, it’s likely that these games are based on sports. In fact, the release does on to state the studios is “building the most creative versions of IRL games available anywhere in the world”. ForeVR’s games have so far used Meta’s avatars and feature progression systems that let you unlock new cosmetic items. They’ve all been Quest-exclusive, with no word on PSVR or PC VR versions so far.
The release also confirms that the ForeVR team is currently 40-strong and that it will launch a new round of funding later in the year. The studio has already raised $8.5 million, and it’s currently hiring for yet more roles.
What other sports would you like to see ForeVR tackle in the future? Let us know in the comments below!
It’s been a whirlwind year for ForeVR, emerging from stealth in December 2020 followed by launching its first virtual reality (VR) title ForeVR Bowlin May. With a focus on bringing sports and social gameplay together the studio has just revealed its second videogame set to arrive this year, ForeVR Darts.
After bowling, darts seems like a natural pub sport to bring into VR, especially as there are very few darts-inspired titles. Exclusive to Oculus Quest and Quest 2, ForeVR Darts offers all the classic darts gameplay you’d expect, from the casual 501, 301, 201, and 101 modes to the pro Double Out (501, 301) modes. Those easier modes are supported in single-player, Pass-and-Play, or a Private room setup, whilst the Double Out mode is all about adding that competitive edge in public multiplayer.
Players will have the ability to create or join public or private multiplayer rooms to face players worldwide. For a more local set up there’s Pass-and-Play requiring one headset to pass between friends and family. In the solo mode, players can hone their skills and level up against Easy, Medium, and Hard NPCs.
A good darts player needs their own darts and there are plenty to choose from. Just like ForeVR Bowl’s bewildering array of bowling balls, ForeVR Darts will include over 50 uniquely weighted darts which will feature: “custom effects and attributes and a range of classic designs and fantastical flights,” the studio notes. ForeVR Darts will also be localized in 22 languages for maximum global accessibility.
Last but not least, ForeVR Darts will support optional hand tracking! Yep, no need for controllers here, pick up your darts and start aiming for those triple 20s.
ForeVR Darts is scheduled to arrive for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 on 16th December 2021 priced at $9.99 USD. Or you can always enter ForeVR’s competition to win one of 50 copies of ForeVR Darts. As further details are released, VRFocus will keep you updated.
Last week, ForeVR Games, the new virtual reality (VR) studio that debuted ForeVR Bowl back in May announced a new funding raise of $7 million USD, bringing its entire financing raise to $8.5 million. This week, the studio has revealed four new senior hires to help its vision of bringing VR videogames to the masses.
Only founded in 2020 by Zynga veterans Marcus Segal (CEO) and Mike Pagano Doom (CCO), the team’s recent expansion further builds out its leadership. “We are building a world-class team to make the most engaging and entertaining immersive experiences in VR gaming,” said Segal in a statement. “VR’s time is now and we are ready!”
ForeVR Games has welcomed onboard Yichel Chan as the new VP of Second Party Production, coming from Glu Mobile and Tremor. Chan will focus on external developer collaboration as well as overseeing production for ForeVR Bowl. Coming from Zynga and Electronic Arts is Virginia McArthur who is now VP of First Party Production. She’ll lead ForeVR’s internal studios.
Filling the role of VP Engineering is ex-Zynga, JuiceBox and Gigster veteran Darren Crainel, where he’ll lead and grow the engineering team. Finally, Lauren Koester joins as Senior Director of Marketing, overseeing ForeVR Games’ PR and community efforts, with experience gained from Amazon, Microsoft and Xbox.
While the studio is concentrating on expanding the ForeVR Bowl experience, having recently released a new lane “Lost City Bowl” and confirming a Steam version is coming soon, the staffing announcement has unveiled more projects are on the way. There’s been no mention of what these titles might be, only that: “the company plans to debut more games in late 2021 and early 2022,” a press release states, and that they’ll be: “focused on bringing IRL games to life.” So more sporting experiences by the sound of it.
Currently, ForeVR Bowl can only be found on Oculus Quest, combining realistic physics with a playful attitude in solo and multiplayer gameplay modes. VRFocus’ review of ForeVR Bowlfound:“At its core, a bowling videogame should be fun for all levels whilst providing enough depth for serious players to compete and feel challenged. ForeVR Bowl easily achieves all of this, with some great bowling mechanics combined with gorgeous visuals.”
As the studio teases further information about future projects, VRFocus will keep you updated.
VR developer ForeVR Games today announced it has raised an additional $7 million in seed capital, bringing its total capital raise to $8.5 million. The studio is focused on bringing classic real world games—like bowling—into VR with an emphasis on social play.
Having launched in 2020, ForeVR is a newcomer to the VR space; the studio’s first game, ForeVR Bowl, launched less than three months ago. But that hasn’t stopped it from aggressively raising capital.
Today ForeVR announced that it has raised an additional $7 million in seed capital, bringing its total raise to $8.5 million. The latest investment was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Galaxy Interactive, All Star Capital, Mark Pincus, and Emmett Shear.
The studio says it plans to use the new funding to focus on building more social VR games, growing its development team, expanding to more platforms, and continuing to improve ForeVR Bowl over time.
ForeVR Bowl launched back in May on Quest and the studio has now confirmed that it’s due to release on Steam “soon.”
$8.5 million in seed funding might seem like a lot for a studio building relatively simple games like ForeVR Bowl, but the founders are pitching investors on a grander scheme—with the premise that VR is on the cusp of going mainstream, ForeVR says it has a singular goal: “to translate the most popular and classic IRL games into immersive virtual reality experiences where friends and families of all ages can connect and have fun.”
With the studio’s co-founders, Marcus Segal and Michael Pagano Doom, having backgrounds in Zynga, it’s clear why they believe that simple games mixed with social fun has big potential for VR. And it’s no surprise that they’re attracting investors that believe the same thing; Mark Pincus, the founder of Zynga, is among them.
“ForeVR Bowl and the rest of the ForeVR lineup represent the best of what’s possible with VR games and, I believe, will be as important to this medium as Zynga was to mobile,” said Sam Englebardt, of Galaxy Digital, one of the studio’s investors. “[Co-founders] Marcus and Mike are masters of blending hyper fun and social gameplay with just enough realism—and some killer music—to make you feel like you’re there and make you never want to leave. I’ll see you at the lanes!”
ForeVR hasn’t announced any games beyond ForeVRBowl but isn’t hiding its intentions to build out a host of titles in the future. Given the focus on bringing real-world activities to life in VR, what do you want to see from the studio next?
ForeVR Bowl just got its first major update, which begins to tackle some key criticisms of the VR bowling game on Oculus Quest.
The June feature update includes what the team calls ‘Throw 2.0’, an updated version of the game’s mechanics based upon data it’s gotten in since the game launched in late May. The team says throwing should feel more consistent now.
In our review of the game last month we said that, without the real weight of a ball in your hand, it was difficult to make consistently accurate throws in the game. I jumped in to play three games following the update and throwing definitely felt more managable now. By standing in one spot, lining up my shot with the lines of the lane itself, I was starting to feel some sense of routine, and by the end of the third game I’d nearly doubled the score of my first (from a lowly 55 to a still pretty awful 89).
It’s still pretty easy to slip up and developer ForeVR says it’s working on further improvements, so we’re not quite ready to reassess our review just yet, but we’ll definitely look at that once more updates come in.
Elsewhere this update also speeds up levelling so that it’s less of a grind to unlock the game’s many ball themes. Plus there’s the promised inclusion of smooth locomotion and new ball themes too.
It’s encouraging to see ForeVR Bowl addressing all of this with its latest update. We’re looking forward to seeing how much further the developer pushes the game in the future.
ForeVR Bowl does everything right on paper, but its winning design feels a step ahead of current VR possibilities. More in our ForeVR Bowl review!
Taken on its own merits, ForeVR Bowl is excellent. It’s incredibly polished, uniquely personable and gives you plenty of reasons to keep playing. In fact, in a lot of crucial areas, developer Forevr bowls a perfect game. But there’s a key problem, one that’s intrinsically tied to VR itself.
At their best, VR sports offer near-seamless facsimiles of the real-life game inside a headset. Eleven Table Tennis‘ pitch-perfect physics and feather-light touch make it almost indistinguishable from the real thing. Thrill of the Fight gives you the satisfaction of throwing a haymaker without the risk of getting a black eye yourself. To ensure your brain doesn’t have enough time to separate the virtual from reality, these games are often based on quick reactions and lightweight interactions.
Bowling isn’t either of those things.
ForeVR Bowl Review – The Facts
What is it?: Bowling in VR. Simple as that. Platforms: Quest Release Date: May 27th Price: $19.99
Hit the lanes in real life and you’ll know that weight is crucial. Picking up a ball, judging its heft and calculating how that will affect your swing is what the sport is all about and that’s something you fundamentally can’t do in VR. Every ball feels identical, there’s no tactile feedback to tell you how a twist of your wrist will alter the ball’s trajectory and no momentum in the pendulum swing of your arm as you line up your next shot. Quest’s tracking can struggle with more dramatic underhand motions, too, meaning you’ll sometimes get unintended and unwelcome results from your throws.
There are ways around these issues, of course. You could opt for much more accessible, automated throwing like in Premium Bowling, or the whacky ruleset of Sports Scramble. But those alternatives are cop-outs if you’re looking for an authentic bowling experience which, admirably, is exactly what ForeVR wants to be.
And so, instead, it goes the numbers route; hover your hand over a ball and you’ll get the stats on its weight and speed. Heavier options, the game tells you, will get you a straighter throw, whilst lighter alternatives can better spin and curve to nail awkward angles. It’s as sensible an alternative you could ask for, and the game tries to layer in depth elsewhere by placing an emphasis on aim, technique and options. There are 100 balls to choose from, for example, and you can pick oil patterns for lanes. It even gives you tips on the speed of your throws.
And, after a few hours of play, you might well find yourself settling into a certain playstyle. But, even with all of that considered, it’s hard to find much consistency in your technique when you’re essentially working with thin air. The connective issue that’s so crucial in a lot of VR experiences just isn’t really there.
As a result, it’s better to approach ForeVR Bowl as an iteration on Wii Sport’s motion-controlled minigames than a full embodiment of the genuine article. And, hey, you might be able to make peace with that. The absence of realism doesn’t have to mean the absence of fun, and once you accept its limitations there’s still plenty of that to go around. Crucially, ForeVR Bowl can be enjoyed in up to four-player multiplayer online where, just like the real thing, the mishaps and commiserations really start to come alive. It captures the hilarity of terrible aim and the surprised elation of unexpected strikes.
ForeVR Bowl Review – Comfort
ForeVR is a great experience from a comfort perspective. There are only small areas to navigate and teleportation works perfectly well. It’s an easy reccomendation for first-time VR users.
And it’s got real character, too. The starting bowling alley environment looks great but you can rise through ranks to unlock new levels like a lunar lane. Each carries tons of details that flesh out the environments. Even the licensed soundtrack surprises with appearances from certified alley anthems like Eye Of The Tiger and The Final Countdown. The game’s star feature, though, is easily the ball designs, which take full advantage of VR.
There are 100 designs to unlock in ForeVR Bowl, first by reaching the right level and then by buying them with cash. Each has different stats but they’re all pretty inventive creations, too. Some have skulls embedded in them, others entire galaxies. Some leak liquid as they roll down the lane and others explode on impact. These are all purely cosmetic differences but they’ve clearly had a lot of thought put into them and the possibility of unlocking more options makes each new round that bit more tempting. That said, it does take a lot to both level up and earn cash, making it more of a grind than was probably necessary.
ForeVR Bowl Review – Final Impressions
ForeVR Bowl is ahead of its time and that’s kind of a problem. It’s a genuinely fantastic effort from the team at ForeVR, with plenty of personality and a feature-rich foundation. But VR itself simply doesn’t feel ready for the authentic bowling experience it aspires to be. The lack of weight in your hand and momentum in your swing makes it hard to nail down consistent technique and the game’s stat-driven approach doesn’t feel intuitive enough to really replace it.
If you want a more instantly accessible experience then Premium Bowling offers just that. But accept ForeVR’s limitations, approach it as more of a casual experience and there’s still a lot of fun to be had with friends here. I just suspect ForeVR Bowl won’t find its real worth until VR technology catches up to it.
For more on how we arrived at this score, read our review guidelines. What did you make of our ForeVR Bowl review? Let us know in the comments below!
Today sees ForeVR launch its first virtual reality (VR) for the Oculus Quest platform, ForeVR Bowl, bringing some classic sporting action to the standalone headset. VRFocus has already reviewed the title but why not see it in action with a little gameplay video recorded on the Oculus Quest 2.
Who doesn’t love a bit of bowling? Considering the past year and the fact that venues have all but shut, a bit of home VR bowling is more than welcome. ForeVR Bowl combines realistic physics with a playful attitude where you can practice bowling a few strikes solo first before challenging friends either at home or online.
ForeVR Bowl is split into four gameplay modes two single-player and two multiplayer. On your own keep it friendly or play ranked matches and try for a leaderboard spot. Want to practice a certain split, you’re covered on that front as well. On the multiplayer side, you and three friends can compete online or for those able to enjoy a home gathering there’s Pass and Play, allowing up to eight people to swap the headset between themselves.
Playing in ranked matches earns you cash which can then be used to by more bowling balls. As ForeVR Bowl relies heavily on accurate physics each ball is slightly different, not just is look but in handling. Some are better for spinning, others pure speed, whilst some a heavy dead weights that won’t bounce at all.
“At its core, a bowling videogame should be fun for all levels whilst providing enough depth for serious players to compete and feel challenged. ForeVR Bowl easily achieves all of this, with some great bowling mechanics combined with gorgeous visuals,” VRFocus said in its review.
ForeVR Bowl is exclusive to Oculus Quest. Take a look at a small sample of what the videogame will offer below – as well as VRFocus’ awful bowling – and when further content becomes available we’ll let you know.
Almost every sport imaginable has been reproduced in some videogame form over the years, either going for pure simulation or arcade fun. Bowling really didn’t come into its own until the arrival of the Nintendo Wii and those lovely motion controllers but even then it was fairly basic. So you would’ve thought with virtual reality’s (VR) focus on immersive controls there would be an array of bowling titles available. That’s not the case, so to help fill the void on Oculus Quest is ForeVR Bowl, striking that bowling desire head-on.
Oculus Quest isn’t devoid of bowling titles it just lacks any variety, with only Sports Scramble and Premium Bowling coming to mind. So what does ForeVR Bowl offer that the others don’t? Well, quite a lot actually, from its ultra-realistic physics to its customizable options and its well-coming aesthetic, there’s plenty to like.
First impressions instantly lean towards a very casual bowling experience, with bright, bold design and colour choices giving ForeVR Bowl that family-friendly feel. That feeling doubles down when you realise the title is one of the few to implement Facebook’s new avatar system, allowing for more expressive and detailed looking characters. If you’ve not set one up yet the main foyer provides a link taking you out of the videogame and into the avatar creation software, a handy little feature.
But don’t let that charming demeanour lull you into thinking ForeVR Bowl is soft around the edges because underneath is a very serious simulator that’ll test those bowling skills to the max. Not only do you have to be accurate with your throw but there are the oil patterns to consider, altering the behaviour of the ball. You’re also given plenty of stats after each throw including speed and the ball’s route.
Its four gameplay modes are set up for solo and multiplayer gaming, both local and online so there’s no shortage of choice. As a lone bowler you can practice in free play – where you’re given do-overs – compete in the ranked leader boards or head on over to the Spare Practice mode. Here you can set up those pins exactly how you want them which is especially handy if you want to practice the deadly 7/10 spilt like a nutter. When it comes to playing with mates the online multiplayer supports up to four players, while Pass and Play is entirely local, so you can swap the headset between eight players if you so wish.
The options continue as there are 6 alleys to choose from – 1990’s hall, the Moon, a Stadium, a Disco Club, Palm Springs and Tiki Island – each with their own genre of licensed music would you believe. Over the airwaves, the likes of Eye of the Tiger and Le Freak were piped in to give that classic bowling centre feel. Palm Springs and Tiki Island offer a slightly tweaked experience so they don’t feature in ranked games. Palm Springs is designed as your own fancy, single-lane bowling alley with an enormous 99 do-overs (normally it’s three) whilst Tiki Island has permanent bumpers for newbies to learn the ropes. Plus, if you’re playing solo or with friends, you can pick from 20 oil patterns to mix up the gameplay.
While you might think that the bumpers are for kids, don’t be so sure. As mentioned, ForeVR Bowl has real-world physics at its roots, it quickly becomes noticeable after a few gutter balls that there’s no hand-holding with some arcade leniency. In Premium Bowling, for example, being able to bowl strike after strike wasn’t that difficult. ForeVR Bowl, on the other hand, was a wake-up call. You can fling the ball down the centre or try to add some spin if you’ve got the skills. At first, there’s that thought something must be wrong “I’m not that bad at bowling” yet the gutter says otherwise. In fact, it’s more adjusting to not having a weighty ball in one hand, because the spares and then the strikes did begin to appear, creating a much greater feeling of achievement in the process.
Like any pro-bowler knows the type of ball is just as important as your throwing arm. ForeVR Bowl has a massive selection of bowling balls to unlock (100 in total), locked behind an experience level first followed by having the cash to buy them. Luckily, the coins don’t trickle in so after a few games it was easy to start upgrading from the initial three balls you’re given. And there’s plenty to consider when choosing the right one, each featuring weight, spin, speed & profile (fastball, no spin, no bounce) stats. Thankfully, you’re not restricted to one ball in the alleys, you can take a selection of five into a match which was really useful when one technique wasn’t working another could be employed.
The ball designs keep with ForeVR Bowl’s fun ethos offering aquariums with swimming fish, alien heads with blinking eyes and black holes. At the really far end of the level unlocks you’ll find special balls like the fireball which have no spin whatsoever, it just launches at high speed down the alley, setting the pins on fire in the process.
ForeVR Bowl isn’t faultless though, with some design choices that didn’t quite gel. To ensure a comfortable experience for all developer ForeVR has solely employed teleportation (albeit with some cute bowling shoes) so there’s no smooth locomotion. In the foyer this isn’t too much of a bother but in the alley it does make fine tuning your position harder. Sure you can physically step left or right but that doesn’t help if space is at a premium, or you’re playing seated. Trying to teleport a few inches over is just a bit too finicky.
Bizarrely, the other annoyance was the selection indicator. There are two selection modes, a finger pointer for menus and a palm pointer for the balls. It just seemed unnecessary and a little confusing switching between the two, especially noticeable in the bowling ball selection area.
At its core, a bowling videogame should be fun for all levels whilst providing enough depth for serious players to compete and feel challenged. ForeVR Bowl easily achieves all of this, with some great bowling mechanics combined with gorgeous visuals. As long as you like bowling there’s plenty of content to keep you going for hours on end, with the social implementation further enhancing the experience. As this is ForeVR’s first VR title it’s an impressive debut and one that is certainly welcome amongst all the shooters and rhythm action games out there.
With May drawing to a close lets have a look at what’s going to round out the month. There are going to be fights in store for Steam users whilst those on PlayStation VR will be getting a rather excellent Rube Goldberg machine building title. So check out five exciting titles due to arrive this coming week.
Gadgeteer – Metanaut
If you love puzzles and building things in VR then Metanaut’s Gadgeteer should be right up your street if you own a PlayStation VR. The title has already on most other VR platforms so this week’s launch nicely rounds things out. The core campaign features 60 pre-made puzzles and once you’ve finished them it’s onto the Maker Mode where you can let your imagination run riot. Plus, with an online sharing feature, you can upload and download your and other people’s Gadgeteer creations.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 25th May
Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife – Fast Travel Games
Fast Travel Games’ new horror Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife saw an early exclusive launch for Oculus headsets last month and this week it’s coming to Steam, expanding support to HTC Vive and Valve Index. Set within the World of Darkness universe, you take on the role of Ed Miller, a photographer who dies during a seance at the luxurious Barclay Mansion. Stuck between the living world and the afterlife, you have to roam the hallways looking for clues as to what happened. However, being dead doesn’t mean to say you’re entirely safe. As a wraith, you can walk through walls and pick items up at a distance but you must also avoid Spectres. These are spirits of wrath and vengeance. With no way to defend yourself from them, you must tread carefully and hide.
Google dropped support for its painting Tilt Brush earlier this year whilst opening the software to developers by making it open source. That’s allowed Icosa Gallery to create Tilt Brush derivative Open Brush. What’s even better for Steam users is Open Brush is free whilst Tilt Brush still costs £14.99 GBP. So get 3D painting for free next week.
Oculus Quest owners looking to get their bowling fix will be able to this week with ForeVR Bowl the first VR title from ForeVR. Practice those bowling skills in single and multiplayer modes, where you can play across six locations with up to four players online. There will be a massive amount of different balls to unlock each with their own stats. The studio has created what it calls Real Feel Throw technology that should provide an accurate experience, all in your own home!
One more puzzle title for PlayStation VR to round the week out. Making you feel like you’re inside the very puzzle you’re trying to solve, Boxed In puts you in a chequered room with colourful cubes to clear. Depending on the mode the difficulty is turned up a notch when the cubes start moving, increasing the chance of crushing you before you’ve managed to clear them all.
Virtual reality (VR) offers exciting possibilities when it comes to immersive gaming, with developers both large and small experimenting with the possibilities. The latest is ForeVR, an indie studio which has recently emerged from stealth having raised $1.5 million USD, currently working on a VR bowling title.
First reported by VentureBeat, the team at ForeVR is helmed by Zynga veterans Marcus Segal (CEO & Co-Founder) and Mike Pagano Doom (CCO and Co-Founder). With VR becoming more accessible and affordable thanks to headsets like Oculus Quest 2, they want to take popular, classic real-life group games and bring them into VR for friends and family to enjoy together.
“I love VR. And I’ve been waiting for the right time, which for me was when there is a device that everyone could access,” Segal told GamesBeat. “And I think that the Oculus Quest 2 at just $300 blows this opportunity wide open. Bowling was really instrumental for the Wii, and we think that kind of game, where you could play with one hand, is exactly what VR needs. You pick up the ball and bowl. It’s a great place to start this accessibility revolution for VR. I was able to get my 81-year-old dad into it.”
Under the working title of ForeVR Bowl, the looks set to offer both local and online multiplayer matchups. With Oculus Quest’s casting capabilities this would easily allow for bowling nights at home. As for other features, nothing has been detailed just yet.
“I want to make games where you can make a case that there will be a VR headset in every household. And the only way you do that is if you can make a game where the family could play it, like bowling,” Segal added.
With a 10-person team from across Glu, Disney, Electronic Arts, and Zynga, ForeVR’s $1.5 million funding round saw participation from Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, Galaxy Interactive Fund as well as Mark Pincus and Justin Waldron from Zynga.
ForeVR Bowl is slated to arrive for Oculus platforms in Q2 2021. As further updates from ForeVR are released, keep reading VRFocus.
