Resolution Games – Page 4 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

September 30, 2021

Blaston Quick Draw Update Adds Wild West Duels, Free Weekend On Steam

A new seasonal game mode featuring wild west gunslinger gameplay is now available in Blaston. The new mode celebrates the game’s first birthday, alongside a free weekend promotion and discounted price on Steam for PC VR players.

The Quick Draw update will be one of the bigger ones since the Crackdown update, which added a single-player campaign a few months ago. By contrast, this update adds in a new multiplayer game mode that dials the action back a bit and focuses on a cowboy-themed showdown in a dusty desert terrain.

As you can see in the embedded trailer, you’ll be equipped with only one weapon, the Deadringer, with a special skin made especially for the game mode. The weapon will spawn in front of you, just like weapons normally do in Blaston, except in Quick Draw mode it’s all about who can grab and shoot the opponent fastest.

“The initial idea for Blaston was a western-style shootout,” said Resolution Games CEO and Co-Founder Tommy Palm in a prepared statement. “So being able to include a nod to that in the game while also appealing to a new and broader audience is really fun.”

In addition to the new mode, there will also be new in-game event challenges on weekends, running throughout the seasonal Quick Draw event and starting from October 8.

The free weekend promotion is available on Steam only, so you’ll need a SteamVR-supported headset to take part. For those on Oculus Quest, there’s no free weekend for the native Quest store version, but you will be able to try the title out on Steam through Oculus Link or Air Link if you have a VR-ready PC. The free weekend runs until 10am PT on Monday.

If you give Blaston a try and like what you find, you’ll also be able to take advantage of a limited ‘Weekend Deal’ on Steam, which sees the game reduced by 30% until October 6 at 10am PST. Plus, anyone that logs into Blaston during the sale period will receive $5 worth of blasts (Blaston’s in-game currency) for free, which you can use to purchase cosmetic, avatars and weapon skins.

The Blaston Quick Draw update is available now across all platforms, and the Blaston free weekend is available now on Steam for compatible VR headsets until October 4, 10am PST,

July 14, 2021

Demeo Dev Resolution Raises $25M Investment

Demeo and Blaston developer Resolution Games closed its Series C funding round with $25 million, which it says will allow for new titles, continued game updates and studio growth.

This brings the studio’s total funding to $38.5 million. The Series C round was led by Qualcomm Ventures LCC and BITKRAFT Ventures, along with Knutsson Holdings AB. There was also participation from investors from prior rounds, such as GV, MizMaa, GP Bullhound and more.

According to a statement from Resolution, the additional funding will allow for studio growth and continual updates of their existing VR titles:

The studio plans to dedicate more resources to ongoing development of existing titles as well as delivering additional live games. Already with more than 100 employees internationally, this latest infusion of capital allows the studio to accelerate company growth even further and scale ahead of the projected market growth as the industry model shifts toward games as a service (GaaS), which requires larger teams to support games post-launch with live-ops teams.

Boaz Peer, Senior Investment Director at Qualcomm Ventures Europe and Qualcomm Isreal, is joining Resolution Games’ board of directors. Malte Barth, a founding partner of BITKRAFT Ventures, will join as a board observer.

Resolution Games are the studio behind several prominent VR games, such as Demeo, Blaston, Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale, Angry Birds VR and many more. Demeo is one of our favorite VR games of 2021 so far and managed to land the top spot on our list of best multiplayer games on Oculus Quest. The game launched with just one campaign, but recently released an update with a second — Realm of the Rat King. According to Resolution Co-Founder and CEO Tommy Palm, this is just the first of “many new adventures” in the works for Demeo.

July 14, 2021

Demeo’s Resolution Games Closes $25m Funding Round

Resolution Games has one of the biggest back catalogues of any virtual reality (VR) developer, having released Blaston, Acron: Attack of the Squirrels, Bait!, Angry Birds VR, and most recently Demeo. Helping strengthen its position within the industry, today, Resolution Games has announced the successful closing of a $25 million USD Series C funding round.

Co-led by Qualcomm Ventures LLC and BITKRAFT Ventures, the round also saw Knutsson Holdings AB, GV, MizMaa, GP Bullhound, Partech, Creandum, Initial Capital, Bonnier Ventures and Sisu Game Ventures all participate. This now brings Resolutions Games’ total funding to $38.5 million. The announcement also sees Boaz Peer, Senior Investment Director, Qualcomm Ventures Europe and Israel at Qualcomm Israel Ltd., joining the board of directors, and Malte Barth of BITKRAFT Ventures, becoming a board observer.

Resolution Games plans on using the funds to continue its push into live VR videogames, scaling its business and teams to build new titles. The studio will also continue to support its existing roster of videogames, dedicating more resources to this endeavour. Most recently, Resolutions Games released the Realm of the Rat King expansion for turn-based dungeon crawler Demeo. The title has become a massive hit surpassing the multi-million dollar mark in revenue.

“Six years ago, Resolution Games was one of the first studios focused on VR and AR. We’ve learned a lot, worked in a time with limited technology, survived a small market, and have continued to think big-picture and long-term,” said Tommy Palm, CEO of Resolution Games in a statement. “We see vast potential in VR and that the market is maturing. We want to up the game and standard for quality to ensure VR users have the best possible experience, and that VR games not just meet – but surpass – the potential from what we’ve seen on other platforms like PC and console.”

“The VR market is growing at an accelerated pace, and we expect this trend to continue in the next few years,” said Peer. “Resolution Games has demonstrated it can create world-class IP, compelling immersive experiences and has shown great leadership across the market. We are excited to invest in Resolution Games to support the growth of superior mobile VR and AR experiences.”

Resolution Games currently has 14 videogames currently on the market for VR and augmented reality (AR) devices and as that roster continues to grow, VRFocus will keep you updated.

July 14, 2021

Resolution Games Secures $25M Series C Funding, ‘Demeo’ Surpasses “multi-million dollars” in Revenue

Resolution Games, the studio behind popular multiplayer VR titles Demeo (2021) and Blaston (2020), today announced it has secured a Series C funding round of $25 million. The Stockholm-based company says the investment will be used to bring “proper live games to the industry and expand their ability to innovate across both VR and AR platforms.”

The round was co-led by Qualcomm Ventures and BITKRAFT Ventures, followed by Knutsson Holdings. Previous investors to take part in the funding round include GV, MizMaa, GP Bullhound, Partech, Creandum, Initial Capital, Bonnier Ventures and Sisu Game Ventures. Including the current round, this brings the company’s total outside investment to $38.5 million.

Founded in 2015, Resolution Games has been responsible for some of the most well-known titles from the early days of consumer VR, including Bait! (2016), Wonderglade (2017), and Solitaire Jester (2015). The studio later set its sights on developing AR and VR games for Rovio’s iconic Angry Birds property, and original titles such as Demeo, a recently released dungeon crawler RPG, 1v1 dueling game Blaston, and multiplayer cooking game Cook-Out: A Sandwich Tale (2020) among others.

Demeo (2021) | Image courtesy Resolution Games

No doubt a significant contributing factor: Resolution announced that Demeo has already surpassed the multi-million dollar mark in revenue and has “blown away records for time spent, retention and more.”

Resolution says it’s going to continue its focus on creating these sorts of multiplayer titles, or what the studio calls “live games,” which highlights the social element of direct user interaction and cooperation. The studio says the funding will allow them to continue development on existing titles in addition to creating more live games.

“Six years ago, Resolution Games was one of the first studios focused on VR and AR. We’ve learned a lot, worked in a time with limited technology, survived a small market, and have continued to think big-picture and long-term,” said Tommy Palm, CEO of Resolution Games. “We see vast potential in VR and that the market is maturing. We want to up the game and standard for quality to ensure VR users have the best possible experience, and that VR games not just meet – but surpass – the potential from what we’ve seen on other platforms like PC and console.”

Boaz Peer, Senior Investment Director of Europe and Israel at Qualcomm, will join the studio’s board of directors. Malte Barth, founding general partner of BITKRAFT Ventures, will be a board observer.

The post Resolution Games Secures $25M Series C Funding, ‘Demeo’ Surpasses “multi-million dollars” in Revenue appeared first on Road to VR.

July 6, 2021

Demeo Patch Adds New Enemies And Bug Fixes

Tabletop role-playing game Demeo received an update adding new enemies as developers continue to work on game saves.

The update includes initial support for storing your progression online even if you uninstall the game, but Developer Resolution Games is still working on game saves. So you can’t yet continue an individual run through of a dungeon between play sessions. The studio recently added its second campaign — Realm of the Rat King — for the incredible multiplayer experience we deemed “essential” in our review. It is a social VR masterclass with cross-play from Steam to Oculus Quest and Rift, but it can also be particularly grueling when a multi-hour game session working through a single dungeon falls apart with a couple bad rolls or mistakes. So while you’ll still need to make sure your squad keeps its focus (and takes bathroom breaks before starting a run), with this latest update you could build out a profile on the Quest version of Demeo and then continue it in the Oculus Home version for PC VR.

We just released a game update including two new enemies (the Bandit and Thug), fixed the bug where enemies could shoot you through walls and the first implementation of cloud saving is here! Check out the full patch notes in-game. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/i6ZSZRok3t

— Demeo (@DemeoGame) July 6, 2021

Resolution Games also said there are two new enemies for the Rat King campaign called Bandit and Thug. You can place a torch on an allied hero as well now and the developers fixed a bug that allowed enemies to shoot through walls, plus some other minor bug fixes.

If you haven’t seen our review of the game yet you can check out the video review below and check back for updates as we follow the game’s ongoing development. According to Resolution Games, the developers are also planning a flat screen version of the game as well that would dramatically expand the reach of the title.

June 28, 2021

Demeo Adventures Continue Today With Realm of the Rat King Expansion

The launch of Demeo last month continued to showcase Resolution Games’ expertise in engaging multiplayer virtual reality (VR) videogames. A turn-based dungeon crawler, today Demeo sees its very first expansion in the form of Realm of the Rat King, adding a new boss to fight, new enemies, new cards and more. All for free!

Resolution Games first revealed Realm of the Rat King not long after the title’s launch without going into content specifics. The story continues from the first chapter seeing: “the heroes learn that the town of Sunderhaven is suffering from an unlikely infestation. Feral rats have begun to appear, and the rumours among the locals suggest that they’re being steered by someone… or something.”

This time rather than fighting through dungeons you’ll be encountering monsters in the sewers underneath Sunderhaven. Sewers are dark and dank places so you’ll need to use the new Torch card to light the way and uncover enemies. As you might expect these will include plenty of rats scurrying around the place as well as Spore Fungus which bursts, covering an area with deadly poison. Handily there’s also a new Antitoxin card to help in that regard, plus a Web Bomb to slow foes down. One monster to look out for is the multi-headed Gorgon whose gaze you’ll want to avoid.

While Demeo’s launch adventure The Black Sarcophagus had three levels to explore the Realm of the Rat King expands this to five. Survive and you’ll come across the Rat King himself, finding his subjects utterly loyal to their ruler.

“The best part of playing tabletop adventures with your friends — other than tackling the forces of evil together — is knowing that there are always more adventures waiting just around the corner,” said Tommy Palm, CEO and co-founder of Resolution Games in a statement. “We’re committed to bringing that same promise of ongoing fun to Demeo. ‘Realm of the Rat King’ is just the first addition of many new adventures we have in the works. We’ll be introducing more magic, more mayhem, and even more heroes over time for players to party up with and plumb the VR depths.”

Demeo – Realm of the Rat King is available today as a free expansion, supporting Oculus Quest and Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. Resolution Games has also confirmed its submitted Demeo to the Oculus Rift section of the Oculus Store which should be confirmed soon. For further Demeo updates, keep reading VRFocus.

June 28, 2021

Demeo: Realm of the Rat King Expansion Available Now For Free

The Realm of the Rat King expansion is available now, free for existing Demeo owners on all platforms.

https://youtu.be/pbHixcO9kuY

You can check out the launch trailer for the expansion embedded above. From a lore perspective, here’s how the Realm of the Rat King fits into Demeo’s story, according to Resolution Games:

Once players have proven victorious in Demeo’s first adventure, ‘The Black Sarcophagus,’ the heroes learn that the town of Sunderhaven is suffering from an unlikely infestation. Feral rats have begun to appear, and the rumors among the locals suggest that they’re being steered by someone… or something. Adventurers will delve deep into the sewers beneath Sunderhaven to locate the source of this mysterious scourge and eliminate it by any means necessary.

According to Tommy Palm, CEO and Co-founder of Resolution Games, the Rat King campaign is “just the first addition of many new adventures we have in the works” for Demeo.

The Rat King campaign boasts a new environment set in the sewers, new enemies included a poison-filled Spore Fungus and a multi-headed ‘Gorgon’ (pictured above) that can turn you into stone if you catch it’s gaze. As previously reported, there’s also new cards such as the Torch and Antitoxin and, of course, the titular new boss, the Rat King.

Resolution Games also confirmed that you’ll be fighting the Rat King while you’re “five levels underground,” seemingly confirming that the new campaign is two levels longer than the game’s first.

Demeo has also been submitted for approval on the Oculus Rift store, and will support cross-play when it launches over the “coming days.”

The Realm of the Rat King expansion is available now for free to existing owners of Demeo. The game is available for $29.99 on SteamVR and the Oculus Store for Quest. You can read our review here.

June 25, 2021

Demeo: Realm Of Rat King Expansion – New Enemies & Cards Revealed

New details on enemies and cards from Demeo’s upcoming Realm of the Rat King expansion have been revealed in a player guide sent out to members of the VR community.

VR YouTube Nathie tweeted some photos of the player guide, which offers glimpses into the Rat King boss, two new enemies and three new cards that will launch as part of the free expansion. One thing is for certain — it doesn’t look like defeating the Rat King will be easy.

This is awesome! Received a Demeo players guide for Realm of the Rat King. Here’s a little sneak peek of what to expect. pic.twitter.com/RQDDKSAjrL

— Nathie (@NathieVR) June 23, 2021

There’s some lore on the titular new boss, detailing how he became a “master of rodents – corrupting him into a grim monarch” who is “forever bound to his subjects.” A rather gruesome illustration reveals that last bit of information is quite literal — the Rat King appears physically tied to some other smaller rats.

In terms of his special abilities, he will have ‘Vermin Frenzy’ which “unleashes a rat attack, causing nearby rats to attack a single Champion.” He’ll also have Rat Bomb, which will damage on impact and also spawn new enemies, and Soul Absorb, which means he gains health as rats around him die. Sounds like quite the challenge.

There’s also two other new enemies — the Gorghon and Spore Fungus, the former of which can petrify you and the latter might potentially damage you when nearby.

Luckily, there are also three new cards to help you defeat the new enemies — Web Bomb will let you tangle a group of enemies in a big web, Torch will allow you to light up an area or increase your vision, and Antitoxin will make you immune to poison effects.

As announced in the UploadVR Showcase, Demeo’s free Realm of the Rat King expansion will launch June 28. We adored the game when it released last month — you can read our full review here.

June 22, 2021

Blaston Reverses Facebook’s VR ad Testing After Backlash

There was quite a bit of furore in the virtual reality (VR) community at the end of last week when Facebook announced it was going to begin early testing of VR ads, starting with Resolution Games’ PvP shooter Blaston. Well, as you’d expect this didn’t go down well and sparked an almighty backlash against the videogame. And Resolution Games most definitely listened, issuing a statement confirming Blaston’s removal from the test.

In a couple of tweets via the Blaston Twitter account the developer said: “After listening to player feedback, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test. Therefore, we no longer plan to implement the test.” This was then followed up with: “To make it clear, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test. As an alternative, we are looking to see if it is feasible to move this small, temporary test to our free game, Bait! sometime in the future.”

Blaston launched last year as a relatively cheap and cheerful shooter where two players stood on podiums trying to whittle each other’s health down using guns. The twist is that all the projectiles move in slow motion. It was well-received by critics and players alike for its easy to pick up and play mechanics. Since the ad debacle, you’ll notice on platforms like Steam and Oculus Store that there’s been a deluge of negative reviews purely due to the advertising news.

Whilst some are simply annoyed by the sheer prospect of advertising in a VR videogame, the general feeling seems to be that ads are fine in free-to-play titles enabling a developer to generate revenue but in a game you pay for it’s a big no-no. Advertising in games is nothing new but the subject of where and when they should be used – especially in VR environments – is far more contested.

Hence why Resolution Games mentioned moving the advertising test to one of its earliest VR titles Bait! which is free across all supported platforms. This is still a test at any rate with Facebook yet to mention how these plans may progress. At the time of the original announcement, Facebook did say other titles will be rolled into the test, those studios may have now reconsidered!

The backlash has slightly marred Blaston’s big Crackdown update this week. This has seen a new single-player campaign arrive, avatars and skins, as well as an upgraded social hub.

As the topic of VR advertising continues to divide the VR community, VRFocus will bring you further updates.

June 21, 2021

‘Blaston’ Reverses Course on Testing In-game Facebook Ads After Community Backlash

Blaston, the VR dueling shooter from Resolution Games, was the subject of a controversy within in the VR community after agreeing to test a new in-game ad system from Facebook. The company says it has decided no to go forward with testing ads in Blaston, but may do so with its free VR fishing game, Bait! (2016), in the future.

Last week Oculus announced that it would begin testing a Facebook advertising system inside select VR games. VR studio Resolution Games and “a couple other developers” were said to be participating in a pilot of the system. Blaston was the only title specifically named in the announcement, and Oculus used the game to show examples of how ads might appear inside of VR games.

An example using Blaston to illustrate in-game ad placement | Image courtesy Facebook

That made Blaston the center of discussion among members of the game’s community— and the VR community at large—which understandably would rather not see advertising in their games.

Part of the contention is that Blaston is a paid game ($10), which some feel means the game shouldn’t run ads. If anything, some said, in-game advertising should be limited to free games.

Today developer Resolution Games backtracked on its decision to test the Facebook ad system following the community backlash.

“After listening to player feedback, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test. Therefore, we no longer plan to implement the test,” the studio wrote on Twitter.

But Resolution Games hasn’t backed away from the idea entirely. A follow-up tweet posted three hours later said, “to make it clear, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test. As an alternative, we are looking to see if it is feasible to move this small, temporary test to our free game, Bait! sometime in the future.”

The debacle came at a bad time for Resolution Games as the studio just today released an update for Blaston which added new content to the game—content which the studio might have hoped would pay itself back over time from in-game ads.

– – — – –

Many games today use monetization strategies other than a single, up-front charge. This has become increasingly popular for games designed for continuous play, as the model helps pay for ongoing support like the running of multiplayer servers and development of new content. Many games with this kind of model, like Fortnite, are free-to-play up front, but offer optional in-app purchases for ongoing monetization. But there’s also plenty of examples, like PUBG, which ask for an up-front cost and also monetize further with in-game purchases.

In-game advertising, however, isn’t commonly seen in these sorts of games. If anything, the in-game advertising model is much more common in the mobile gaming sector, and often sits right next to in-game purchases that may even offer to remove the advertising for a fee.

While the decision to use in-game advertising might have been seen as perfectly normal in a mobile game, it seems that VR—even when technically running on a mobile platform like Quest—is seen by many as being distinct from mobile gaming, and there’s a clear desire from some in the community to keep it that way.

Facebook, however, is far from the first company to play with VR ads. HTC revealed a similar in-game advertising system for VR content on Viveport back in 2017, though the program never caught on. Google experimented with VR ad formats as well, though the company has since exited the VR space. And there’s plenty of examples still of companies aimed at making advertising part of virtual reality, though it is something that users have largely rejected.

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