Universal and The Virtual Reality Company (VRC) today announced Jurassic World VR Expedition, an out-of-home VR rescue adventure that puts you in the dense, dino-filled jungles familiar to the film franchise, is debuting on June 14th at more than 100 Dave & Buster’s entertainment centers.
The adventure supports up to four people at a time, and uses HTC Vive headsets, and what the companies call a “state-of-the-art VR motion simulator.” The game, which is said to last five minutes, takes you to the abandoned site of Jurassic World for an expedition focused on rescuing the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar.
Jurassic World VR Expedition proceeds Universal’s upcoming franchise sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which is coming to theaters June 22nd.
“What we have done for this project is groundbreaking,” says The Virtual Reality Company Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Robert Stromberg, “It represents a remarkable departure from the traditional approach to combining VFX and gameplay in VR. To achieve the level of cinematic visual integrity we would like to see in VR, we integrated a variety of filmmaking techniques to help complement established entertainment software approaches.”
The VRC development team is made up of several Academy Award-winning and nominated animators, visual effects artists, and technicians. The game itself was written and directed by James Lima, a multi Emmy Award-nominated visual effects artist, and was executive produced by VRC co-founders Robert Stromberg, a two-time Academy Award winner, and entertainment executive Guy Primus.
Universal says in a press release that Jurassic World VR Expedition represents the company’s next step in a strategic expansion into gaming. Last year, Universal announced an expansion of its games team, which included greater investment in game development. Jurassic World VR Expedition represents the company’s first VR game, with more games set to launch “in 2018 and beyond.”
To try Jurassic World VR Expedition, you can find a Dave & Buster’s location in your area or through Vive’s Demo Locator. The game is first rolling out to Dave and Buster’s, but will also arrive “soon” to additional VR arcades and out-of-home gaming venues worldwide.