nDreams, the veteran VR studio, today announced it was acquired by video gaming group Aonic for $110 million.
The Farnborough, UK-based nDreams has changed a fair bit since its founding in 2006. Having taken up VR game development full-time in 2013, the studio went on to release a slew of VR titles complimenting nearly every major headset release, including games such as The Assembly (2016), Phantom: Covert Ops (2020), Fracked (2021), and Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (2023).
The acquisition by Aonic follows a $35 million investment from the group in March 2022, which at the time helped nDreams expand its publishing wing in addition to allowing the studio to grow to 250 employees strong across its family of studios, including Elevation, Orbital and Near Light.
Since then, the company has underwritten a number of VR games, such as Little Cities (2022) and Powerwash Simulator VR (2023).
The studio says it’s not changing its commitment to VR and MR gaming, but rather continuing to expand its position in XR even further. Studio co-founders Patrick and Tamsin O’Luanaigh are also remaining in their positions alongside the rest of the company’s executive team and board.
The acquisition however will allow nDreams to collaborate with Aonic’s family of game studios, such as Warren Spector’s OtherSide Entertainment, Milky Tea, and Bkom Studios.
nDreams says it’s also looking at investment opportunities in third-party publishing titles as well as possible studio acquisitions.
