Stampede: Racing Royale turns Mario Kart into a 60-player battle royale
Stampede: Racing Royale is a 60-player kart racing battle royale that plays like a combination between Fall Guys and Mario Kart.
CCP Games CEO: “We expected VR to be two to three times as big”
CCP Games, the Icelandic studio known for their long-running MMO Eve: Online (2003), shuttered their VR production studios in a surprise move last year, selling off their Newcastle-based branch behind their multiplayer space dogfighter EVE: Valkyrie (2016), and completely shutting down their Atlanta studio behind sports game Sparc (2017). Now, CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson speaks out in an interview with Destructoid about the studio’s reconsolidation back to traditional desktop gaming, and his thoughts about the VR landscape. In short, he thought VR would be bigger by now, and more capable of supporting a healthy multiplayer userbase.
EVE: Valkyrie, the company’s flagship VR game, was the result of over three years of development before becoming a day-one launch title on Oculus Rift and PSVR, arriving shortly afterwards on HTC Vive via Steam in 2016—a seemingly best-case scenario for any multiplayer-only game.
Under CCP direction, EVE: Valkyrie saw a number of updates designed to entice players back, including new ships, maps, and weekly events; CCP even pushed a major update to the game last year that brought support for desktop and console players, a move to help boost sales and revive the ailing VR-only playerbase. Still, the multiplayer game just didn’t perform as CCP ultimately expected, and the company officially stepped back from VR shortly thereafter.
“We expected VR to be two to three times as big as it was, period,” Pétursson tells Destructoid. “You can’t build a business on that.”
Pétursson still has hope though that headsets like Oculus Quest, the $400 high-end standalone 6DOF headset launching in Spring 2019, will have the mass appeal to bring the user numbers the company needs to see before jumping back into VR.
“If it does take off, and I mean if, we’ll re-assess. The important thing is we need to see the metrics for active users of VR,” he tells Destructoid. “A lot of people bought headsets just to try it out. How many of those people are active? We found that in terms of our data, a lot of users weren’t.”
While CCP Games has been recently acquired by Korea-based developer Pearl Abyss, the studio behind the MMO Black Desert Online, it may still have leeway to begin anew in VR when they think the time is right. According to Pearl Abyss, CCP will “continue to operate independently as a developer with studios in Reykjavik, London and Shanghai, while integrating the company’s extensive development and publishing expertise into Pearl Abyss’ operations for all current and future projects.”
Despite shuttering the Atlanta-based office behind Sparc and selling EVE: Valkyrie to Sumo Digital, both games remain functional today.
The post CCP Games CEO: “We expected VR to be two to three times as big” appeared first on Road to VR.
Even Though CCP Games Quit VR, CEO Is Still A ‘Big Believer’ In VR
It was last year that CCP Games announced that they would be shuttering their development efforts on virtual reality (VR) titles and shutting down two studios in the process. At the recent Fanfest 2018 event, CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson talked about the events last year and why they are no longer making VR titles.
It was during the fanfest that Pétursson took to the stage and talk to fans about the state of CCP Games, addressing the elephant in the room of the companies four available VR videogames. He assured that they would continue to get support for the time being and, speaking afterward in an interview with PCGamer, talked further about the companies stance on VR.
“I’m a big believer in the future of VR still, nothing really changes that,” Pétursson explains. “It’s just going to take a longer time to get off the ground in terms of install base. We were always estimating the journey to be quite slow, but it’s just going to take longer than makes sense for us to continue for now.”
This is, regardless of the companies enthusiasm, what lead to the decision to end development of VR titles and close the two studios as mentioned above. Even though VR headsets continue to sell globally and become more widely adopted, Pétursson explained that that still is not enough to see a ideal user base.
“The install base is not at a level that a company our size, and the type of games that we want to make, can be done based solely on consumer revenue. It can be done, but you have to be a [top-selling] game every time. It’s extremely risky right now to do any game of size and scale.”
Pétursson goes on to mentioned that the gap in the market is being filled by a number of indie developers though who are picking up the place of the big-budget developers that are not developing VR titles. “Where you can have success that makes sense is at the indie level. A small team can definitely have a break in VR. But we’re just not an indie [company], I mean, we’re an independent company, but we have hundreds of people.” Pétursson explains.
Though CCP Games continue to have great success with their massively multiplayer online (MMO) EVE Online, the company is sticking to its guns on the topic of VR for the foreseeable future. All is not lost though as Sumo Digital acquired the EVE: Valkyrie developer CCP Games Newcastle at the start of this year which may see a future for the title and/or VR titles based on CCP Games titles. For now though, no details have come to light.
VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest on CCP Games and their VR titles.
Play Space Dogfighter ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ on Rift for Free This Weekend
EVE: Valkyrie (2016), the space dogfighter originally developed by CCP Games, just opened up its free weekend, which gives anyone with an Oculus Rift an all-access pass to play for the next few days.
The free weekend is already in effect, and will continue until February 19th at 12:00 AM PST (local time here).
The game, which recently passed hands to Sumo Digital due to CCP shelving its VR-producing branches back in October last year, has been an early VR stalwart since we first saw it in 2014 when it carried the moniker EVE-VR. The game has since seen a number of substantial updates which saw several maps and game mode types added, and eventually resulted in the refocusing of the game’s ships to be more in line with first-person shooters, offering several distinct classes to anyone regardless of playtime or in-game achievement.
EVE: Valkyrie also supports crossplay for all of its supported platforms which include HTC Vive (via Steam) and PSVR, and more recently players on PC and PS4. Console and PC support came alongside the game’s largest and most recent update Warzone, which aimed to revitalize the online multiplayer with the promise of more players.
Valkyrie is currently discounted on Steam at $15, and on the Oculus Store at $18. Download Valkyrie here to get started on the free weekend.
The post Play Space Dogfighter ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ on Rift for Free This Weekend appeared first on Road to VR.
Sumo Digital Acquires EVE: Valkyrie Developer CCP Games Newcastle
Last October CCP Games made the shock announcement that it was moving away from virtual reality (VR) development having created popular titles like EVE: Valkyrie, Gunjack and Sparc. As part of that process the company planned to sell off CCP Games Newcastle, the team that was instrumental in some of those titles creation. Now British developer Sumo Digital has announced the acquisition of CCP Games Newcastle for an undisclosed sum.
In a press release the company has said that 34 staff have transferred to Sumo Digital, with Owen O’Brien as Studio Director, and they’ll remain in Newcastle. This means that Sumo Digital has now expanded operations to three UK studios – located in Sheffield, Nottingham, and Newcastle – with a fourth branch based in Pune, India.
“As we continue to expand this was a great opportunity to bring an experienced, talented and tight-knit team on board,” said Paul Porter, Managing Director of Sumo Digital in a statement.
”Sumo Digital is a great home for the team in Newcastle,” added Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. “As we say goodbye to our former colleagues we know that they will do great things there, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.”
EVE: Valkyrie was a launch title for Oculus Rift back in 2016, with the studio expanding support to HTC Vive and PlayStation VR to include cross-platform gameplay. Since then, the videogame has seen numerous updates to expand the universe and gameplay options available.
With the new acquisition it’s now unclear if EVE: Valkyrie or any of the other VR titles CCP Games Newcastle was involved with will see continued support by Sumo Digital. CCP Games’ most recent release was Sparc, another cross-platform multiplayer which launched on PlayStation VR in August and then Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in November. With such online focused experiences many players will want to know how elements like the servers will continue to be run. Whether that’ll stay in the hands of CCP Games or not.
Currently those details are unknown but as VRFocus learns more about the studio purchase and how Sumo Digital plans to utilise the Newcastle studio’s VR expertise we’ll let you know.
CCP Studio Behind ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Acquired by Sumo Digital
Sumo Digital, an independent game studio based in Sheffield, UK, announced they’ve taken on CCP Games’ Newcastle studio, the branch primarily involved in the production of EVE: Valkyrie (2016).
When CCP announced they were shutting down their VR game-producing studios, the fate of EVE: Valkyrie and Sparc (2017) were less than certain. At the time, CCP said that while the Atlanta-based studio behind Sparc would be dissolved, the development team at the Newcastle studio would remain intact despite an impending acquisition, and that work on the game’s Winter Update would continue even in the midst of the move.
The Winter Update, which included a new map and the ability to create custom matches, followed the larger Warzone Update which extended support to non-VR players on PS4 and PC.
In an official announcement, Sumo says they’ve taken on 34 CCP staff members who will remain in New Castle with Owen O’Brien as Studio Director. O’Brien joined CCP in 2013 as executive producer of the fledgling Valkyrie, coming from EA’s DICE studio in Stockholm.
”Sumo Digital is a great home for the team in Newcastle,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games. “As we say goodbye to our former colleagues we know that they will do great things there, and we can’t wait to see what they do next.”
Paul Porter, Managing Director of Sumo Digital said, “As we continue to expand this was a great opportunity to bring an experienced, talented and tight-knit team on board.”
Sumo is most recently known for their puzzle platform game Snake Pass (2017), and has worked on a number of sequels to big franchises such as Forza, Little Big Planet, Crackdown, and Sonic.
The post CCP Studio Behind ‘EVE: Valkyrie’ Acquired by Sumo Digital appeared first on Road to VR.
Sumo Digital heuert EVE-Valkyrie-Entwickler an
Ende Oktober letzten Jahres gab das isländische Entwickler-Studio CCP Games bekannt, nicht weiter für die virtuelle Realität entwickeln zu wollen und die entsprechenden Studios zu schließen. Darunter auch CCP Games Newport, das für die Entwicklung des VR-Urgesteins EVE: Valkyrie zuständig war. Nun zeichnet sich ein Hoffnungsschimmer ab, denn Sumo Digital bietet 34 Entwicklern eine neue Heimat.
EVE-Valkyrie-Entwickler wechseln zu Summe Digital
Sumo Digital besitzt ingesamt vier Studios, drei in England und eines in Indien. Insgesamt 34 Mitarbeiter von CCP Games in Newcastle bietet das Studio nun laut GamesIndustriy.biz.reports eine neue Heimat. Dabei müssen die neuen Kollegen nicht mal die Stadt wechseln, sondern bleiben in Newcastle. Der Schritt von Sumo Digital könnte darauf hinweisen, dass es Pläne für VR in der Tasche hat. Bisher sind allerdings keine bekannt geworden.
Sumo Digital ist vor allem für das klassische Adventure Baphomets Fluch bekannt, entwickelte aber auch den Top-Titel Little Big Planet 3 für die PlayStation 4. Das Studio weist tief in die Videospielgeschichte zurück, die Gründer waren leitende Angestellte von Gremlin Interactive, das Spiele für klassische Homecomputer wie Commodore 64 und ZX Spectrum entwickelt hatte. Derzeit befinden sich bei Sumo Digital die Titel Crackdown 3 und Dead Island 2 in der Entwicklung. Himalr Pétursson, CEO von CCP, ist sich sicher, dass die ehemaligen Kollegen große Dinge tun werden. Paul Porter von Sumo Digital freut sich, solche erfahrenen und talentierten Entwickler jetzt mit an Bord zu haben. Weitere Details zu der Mitarbeiter-Übernahme sind nicht bekannt.
EVE: Valkyrie gehört zu den ersten kommerziellen VR-Titeln der aktuellen Generation überhaupt, bereits im August 2014 konnten wir eine frühe Version für ein Oculus-Entwickler-Kit anspielen. Versionen für die großen PC-Brillen sowie PSVR folgten mit Cross-Plattform-Unterstützung. Seit Ende September letzten Jahres können auch PlayStation-4– und PC-Spieler ohne VR-Headset mitmischen und mit dem Warzone-Update spannende Gefechte gegeneinander bestreiten. Derzeit ist Eve: Valkyrie VR mit 50 Prozent Rabatt für 15 Euro im PlayStation Store und auf Steam erhältlich. Mit Updates können Käufer allerdings nicht mehr rechnen.
(Quelle: GamesIndustriy.biz.reports)
Der Beitrag Sumo Digital heuert EVE-Valkyrie-Entwickler an zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!
Crackdown 3: Our First Take
Emerging from a year of radio silence, 'Crackdown 3' is back, bringing its signature blend of superpowered, explosive action to E3. We went hands-on with the anticipated title and had a chat with its design director.
The post Crackdown 3: Our First Take appeared first on Digital Trends.
‘Dead Island 2’ isn’t dead yet, but it’s unclear when it will rise again
Dead Island 2, the sequel to Deep Silver's popular zombie RPG, is still in development at studio Sumo Digital. The game was announced with a different developer way back at E3 in 2014.
The post ‘Dead Island 2’ isn’t dead yet, but it’s unclear when it will rise again appeared first on Digital Trends.