What is Embracer Group? Gaming’s new megapower, explained
This is what you need to know about Embracer Group, the company that just acquired Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.
PlayStation VR Getting Exclusive Physical Edition of After the Fall in March
Vertigo Games released its latest virtual reality (VR) shooter After the Fall for most major headsets in 2021, managing $1.4 million in sales during the first 24 hours. If you’re a PlayStation VR owner hoping for a physical edition then you’re in luck, there’s one on the way in the form of the Frontrunner Edition.
Part of Vertigo Games’ Frontrunner Season for After the Fall, PlayStation VR’s After the Fall – Frontrunner Edition will be an exclusive physical version due to arrive on 25th March retailing for £39.99 GBP/$49.99 USD. It’ll feature:
- Full access to the Frontrunner Season
- PSVR exclusive “Ultimate Buster” Skin
- After the Fall PS4 Theme & Avatars
- After the Fall Official Digital Soundtrack
- After the Fall Digital Artbook
The After the Fall – Frontrunner Season kicks off this month for all supported headsets (Meta Quest 2, PC VR and PSVR). It’s free for all current players who purchased the Launch -and Deluxe Editions of After the Fall, adding new gameplay modes, more locations and additional weapons. These will all be gradually rolled out during the upcoming months.
After the Fall is primarily a 4-player co-op where you and your teammates go on Harvest Runs to collect valuable resources, all the while fighting off the deadly Snowbreed. Once human, these are now monstrous mutations living in the frozen wasteland that is an alternate future, Los Angeles.
The videogame features 32-player hubs so if you don’t have enough party members another can easily join. Or bots are available to make up the numbers when required. Harvest Runs offer the chance to gain valuable loot to upgrade your weapons, making your next run even more devastating. Inbetween runs you can also try out the other mode, a 4v4 competitive multiplayer.
As further details regarding After the Fall’s – Frontrunner Season are released, gmw3 will let you know.
Vertigo Games Acquires VR Studio Force Field, Working on “Unannounced AAA game based on well-known IP”
Vertigo Games, a VR development studio and publisher, announced it has acquired Amsterdam-based VR development studio Force Field, which has worked on VR experiences like Anne Frank House VR, Coaster Combat, and Landfall. The studio will continue on as Vertigo Studios Amsterdam and is purportedly in development of a new AAA VR game.
In a move which strengthens the position of the already well established VR developer and publisher, Vertigo Games, the company has announced the complete acquisition of VR development studio Force Field for an undisclosed amount.
Force Field, which will continue on as Vertigo Studios Amsterdam, has a long track record of VR projects dating back to the early days of Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR with titles like Landfall and Term1nal.
Vertigo Games says the studio is currently in development of “an unannounced AAA game based on a well-known IP.”
Vertigo Games—which is well known for VR titles like Arizona Sunshine and the upcoming After the Fall—was itself acquired by Koch Media (part of Embracer Group) last year for some $60 million. The deal includes various performance milestones over the next 10 years which could bump the purchase price by up to another $80 million in cash and shares.
Vertigo Games is split into three major sections, Vertigo Studios, focused on in-house development, Vertigo Publishing, focused on third-party publishing, and Vertigo Arcade, focused on out-of-home VR arcade experiences.
Vertigo Games has been expanding quickly with strategic acquisitions since it was acquired by Koch Media last year. Ahead of the Force Field acquisition, which grows the company’s Studios section, Vertigo Games also acquired VR arcade platform SpringboardVR earlier this year, bolstering the company’s Arcade segment.
Vertigo Games isn’t shy about where it’s parent company thinks things are headed, noting in the announcement that the Force Field acquisition “is another clear indication of Koch Media investing in VR and the exciting future it holds.”
The post Vertigo Games Acquires VR Studio Force Field, Working on “Unannounced AAA game based on well-known IP” appeared first on Road to VR.
Saint’s Row, TimeSplitters, and more will not appear at E3 2021
Deep Silver confirmed that Dead Island, Saint's Row, Metro, and TimeSplitters will not appear at Summer Game Fest 2021 or any other E3 event.
E3 2021 Will be an ‘All-Virtual’ Event Open to Everyone
2020 saw most in-person events shuttered which included the videogame industry’s most prestigious, E3, unable to welcome guests from around the world. This year, however, will be slightly different. A physical event won’t be held but organiser The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has announced a reimagined, all-virtual E3 2021 will be taking place instead.
The specifics have yet to be revealed but the ESA has noted it’ll encompass an ‘exclusive online portal and supporting mobile app.’ There will be the usual mixture of live press conferences, reveals and high-profile hosts, plus charitable initiatives and more. Currently, Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games and Koch Media have all committed to the show with Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) noticeably absent, a trend the company began back in 2019.
With no PlayStation, the hope of virtual reality (VR) news falls to the likes of Ubisoft and Koch Media. And they could very well provide some big announcements. Ubisoft has confirmed the development of Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell VR titles as well a Far Cry VR: Dive into Insanity for VR arcades. Koch Media, on the other hand, acquired Vertigo Games in 2020 so an official date for After the Fall could be released or details on something new.
“For more than two decades, E3 has been the premier venue to showcase the best that the video game industry has to offer, while uniting the world through games,” said Stanley Pierre-Louis, President & CEO of the ESA in a statement. “We are evolving this year’s E3 into a more inclusive event, but will still look to excite the fans with major reveals and insider opportunities that make this event the indispensable centre stage for video games.”
What’s important to note is that with E3 2021 going digital it’ll be free for videogame fans worldwide to attend, taking place between 12th-15th June. Hopefully, 2022 will see things return to normal and everyone can cram into the Staples Centre once again. For further updates on E3 2021, keep reading VRFocus.
Traffic Jams Crashes Onto Quest And PC VR This April, PSVR This Summer
Wacky traffic controlling VR game, Traffic Jams, is slated to hit both Quest and PC VR headsets this April 8, with a PSVR release coming this summer.
Traffic Jams is a promising-looking silly VR game published Vertigo Games and developed by Little Chick Game Company, in which you control the flow of traffic during increasingly bizarre and zany circumstances using hand movements. It even features a local multiplayer component for up to four non-VR players that looks like it could be a lot of fun as a party game.
The premise here is that all of the traffic lights have inexplicably gone out and your are apparently the last hope of managing the world’s busiest intersections. Each of the various cities will throw their own challenges and twists at you, as well as unlockable events, to up the craziness even further.
You can see some pretty wild stuff going down in the trailer and screenshots above. Does that one nighttime image have a meteor falling down on the city, or do my eyes deceive me? It’ll probably be tough to manage traffic under that kind of duress.
I haven’t had a chance to try this one out yet, but it definitely seems like a unique brand of wacky that could only really work effectively in VR. I’m not sure a game like this would be anywhere near as compelling without motion controllers to give you hand motions. It’d be even better with hand tracking features as well.
Traffic Jams releases on April 8 for Oculus Quest and PC VR, with a PSVR release coming later this summer. Let us know what you think of Traffic Jams down in the comments below!
Metro, Dead Island, Kingdom Come Have ‘Good Opportunities’ For VR – Koch Media
Koch Media says some of its biggest franchises have “good opportunities” for VR going forward. Metro VR, anyone?
Two months ago, Koch announced the acquisition of Arizona Sunshine developer, Vertigo Games. It was a surprising move for the company, which also owns other games publishers like Deep Silver under its own label and is connected to Saber Interactive and THQ Nordic via its parent company, Embracer Group. Vertigo will continue to work on VR projects, including the upcoming After The Fall but, as Koch Media CEO Klemens Kundratitz told MCV, the deal also signals that we could see other Koch-associated studios embrace VR.
Metro VR Could Happen… One Day
“Yes, there is big interest from various studios now to engage and how that will materialize in VR games, we need to see,” Kundratitz said. “We run our company in a sort of decentralized way, where the studios have a lot of autonomy on the one hand, but also are part of the family. And we’re gonna play it the same way with VR. Nobody will be forced to do the next game in VR. But on the other hand, if the idea is suitable, if there is an appetite from the development point of view, then we now have great opportunities to not only dream of it, but actually make it.”
As the owner of several games publishers and studios, as well as the subsidiary of a company that owns yet more of them, Koch’s reach ranges quite far. But, specifically, Kundratitz seemed to tease that some of its biggest series, including Metro, Kingdom Come Deliverance and Dead Island could be well-suited for VR.
“Yes, Metro is certainly an important IP that we have, Kingdom Come Deliverance is another big one, Dead Island is a big one,” he said. “So there are good opportunities in our stable of IPs.”
This is purely a speculative quote and by no means confirmation, though it certainly seems Koch and Embracer are more optimistic about the possibilities of VR versions of their games than other publishers. Indeed, the Metro series’ atmospheric, isolated approach to first-person combat and Kingdom Come’s huge world both seem well-suited for VR.
It’ll likely be some time before we hear any other news, though. For now, After The Fall is due for release sometime in 2021. Would you want a Metro VR game? Are there any other Koch-owned series you’d want to see in VR? Let us know in the comments below!
Arizona Sunshine Dev Vertigo Acquired By Koch Media
Vertigo Games, the developer of Arizona Sunshine and the upcoming After The Fall, has been acquired by Austria-based Koch Media.
The team, itself based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, will join Koch’s stable of studios, which also includes publisher Deep Silver. Koch Media itself is a subsidiary of Embracer Group, which owns THQ Nordic and Saber Interactive too. Koch acquires all aspects of Vertigo’s business, including internal development, VR publishing and its VR arcades business.
Vertigo Games Acquired
In a press release, Vertigo confirmed there are “no changes to the existing management or team” in this move and that the team will continue to develop and publish games independently.
“In Koch Media we have found a partner that is just as eager to push the boundaries of gaming, which we will be pursuing even more than before through opportunities for cooperation between the companies,” Vertigo CEO Richard Stitselaar said in a prepared statement.
Vertigo first broke into VR by implementing headset support into its underwater adventure game, World of Diving. Then, in 2016, it released a first-person zombie shooter called Arizona Sunshine for the newly-released Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. The game was one of the rare titles to find success in VR’s nascent stages, making $1.4 million in sales in its first month. It’s since seen a number of DLC updates and expanded into arcades.
Those arcades are another important arm of Vertigo’s business, including its own suite of tools for others to use and a line-up of titles like The Corsair’s Curse and Ghost Patrol. Finally, Vertigo also publishes VR games from other studios, including last year’s excellent The Fisherman’s Tale and the upcoming Traffic Jams. The company says it has six releases planned in its remaining 2020/2021 line-up.
One of those games will be After The Fall, the new cooperative zombie shooter we debuted at last year’s E3 VR Showcase. The title has been missing in action this year, but we’re hoping to see more from it soon.
What do you make of Vertigo Games being acquired? Let us know in the comments below!
‘Fortnite’ gets a physical release days ahead of its early-access launch
Fortnite is set to launch next month as an early-access title, but it has been confirmed that a physical version of the game will be available in North America and Europe four days earlier.
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