Arcade Saga’s latest updates feature multiplayer modes in all three of its futuristic sports and add Oculus Touch optimisations. Developed by 2Bears Studios, the game originally launched in December 2016 as the first title from Vive Studios, HTC’s internal development and publishing group.
Inspired by arcade classics Breakout, Galaga, and Arkanoid, Arcade Saga offers three separate game modes built for VR in one package: Fracture, Smash, and Bowshot. 84 levels of motion-controlled action await, plus four bosses and bonus levels. The game is free today only on Viveport in celebration of Vive’s one year launch anniversary. The title is also available on Steam for $20.
Smash mode was the first to receive a beta PvP mode and worldwide leaderboards in January, followed by Fracture’s multiplayer mode in February, plus the introduction of ‘Helper’ and ‘Hinder’ powerups to spice up the matches. At the end of March, the wave-based shooter mode Bowshot received its PvP mode to complete the multiplayer lineup. Although not mentioned on its News page on Steam, this most recent update also optimised the game for Oculus Touch, HTC tells Road to VR.
As the first title from HTC’s internal Vive Studios, this extended support for Oculus hardware highlights the very different approaches to VR game development and funding between the two major PC VR companies. Unlike Oculus Studios, HTC says Vive Studios is platform agnostic; Arcade Saga could be coming to Sony’s PSVR too, according to Joel Breton, VP of Content at HTC Vive, during a recent Gamespot interview.