Resolution Games, a company formed from mobile development veterans, has announced it’s to receive $6 million in funding from Google’s investment arm to make VR games everyone can play.
You can almost smell the money circulating the VR industry right now. Checking back on the last few years of Road to VR coverage, the number of headlines featuring an investment in the space has increased at a pace surprising even for us, and that’s not to mention those stories we’re not able to cover.
Swedish company Resolution Games is the latest company to receive investment on the promise of tapping into the new wave of virtual reality gaming heading our way. They’ve just netted $6M in funds as part of a Series A funding round led by Google’s venture capital arm. The pitch? To create accessible virtual reality experiences for a mainstream audience, something the industry sorely needs should VR ever break beyond the enthusiast niche.
The company was founded by Tommy Palm, the ‘Games Guru’ formerly of King Digital Entertainment, the mobile software giant behind the spectacularly successful Candy Crush Saga franchise. Speaking to Road to VR, Palm detailed the reasons for starting the new company and for its focus on VR. “…VR is very much a blank page still there are so many different things it can do,” Palm says, “One of the things we wanted to do was show a little bit about how raw VR games can be.”
The company’s first foray into VR has already been released, a title called Solitaire Jester for the Gear VR headset. “Solitare is one of the most 2D things you can think about, but we still feel that it worked really well and it was something that people are very familiar with,” Palm tells us, “…it’s great to show [your family] what it is to play something familiar and it’s very easy to zone out and focus on your gameplay [in VR].” Palm is bullish about VR’s prospects too “…VR is the next big games platform and I definitely think that those games can be for everyone as long as there is great accessible content.”
See Also: New Gear VR Title ‘Solitaire Jester’ Is Beautiful and Engaging and It Makes My Neck Hurt
Resolution’s next title, built for VR is a slightly different prospect, based on a fishing theme. “With the fishing game it was something that came up during a brainstorm,” Palm says, “We wanted to think of something that would keep players stationary but also be active. Several of us enjoy fishing as a hobby and we were really psyched when someone mentioned the idea and we prototyped it and felt very strongly that it … worked well.”
With the help of the new funding, the company has “doubled its staff adding several new talented games creators and plans to continue its growth from within Sweden’s rich games development talent pool to firm up its core team” according to a press release from the company.
“The funds will also give us the ability to ensure our longevity. As we learned with the mobile games market, perseverance is critical for building a successful company in an emerging market,” added Palm. “Resolution Games will be around for years to come and will be able to focus on making the correct strategic choices to help the VR Games market grow into its potential.”
Our thanks to Tommy Palm for his time and we’ll keep a close eye on how Resolution Games’ execute on their promise to open up the VR gaming experience to a wider audience in the near future.