wolfenstien-cyberpilot — Image courtesy Bethesda

‘Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot’ is a New Standalone VR Title Coming From Bethesda in 2019

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Jun 10, 2018

Today during Bethesda’s E3 Showcase, the company announced a new standalone VR title: Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, due to launch in 2019.

Details on Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot are slim so far, though we expect to go hands-on with the game at E3 this week, so stay tuned for more details; for now here’s what Bethesda is saying so far:

The Resistance has upped its tech game in the two decades since the events of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot drops you into the role of a resistance hacker on a mission to tear apart the Nazi forces in Paris using their own machines. Take control of a fire-breathing Panzerhund and more as you fight Nazis in the City of Love in order to aid the French resistance. Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot will be available as a standalone VR game in 2019. Saddle up, Cyberpilot. You’re one of us now.

The company hasn’t announced which VR platforms the game will launch on, though the Bethesda’s previous VR titles have spanned SteamVR headsets and PlayStation VR. It also isn’t clear yet how the Wolfenstein VR title might tie in with the new non-VR Wolfenstein: Youngblood game which was also announced at the Bethesda E3 Showcase.

'Skyrim VR' vs. 'Fallout 4 VR' – The Best Bethesda RPG in VR

With several VR titles now under its belt (Doom VFR, Skyrim VR, and Fallout 4 VR), Bethesda appears happy with its early jump into the VR space, positioning itself as a pioneer in the VR with “no sign of slowing down.”

The news came in tandem with the announcement that Bethesda’s Prey (2017) is getting a DLC soon with two separate VR modes.

Jim Young

2 short Doom VFR type “games” and a dumbed down TES mobile game….I’d say that is slowing down.
- HybridEnergy
  
  It’s barely been a year since they released 3 of the biggest VR titles around.
  - dogtato
    
    Two of the few titles I’ve refunded because they have half-assed VR support. I’d rather play short things made for VR than spend a long time in a game where the controls are designed for an xbox controller
    - HybridEnergy
      
      I’ve found the controls that Bethesda implemented in Skyrim VR and Fallout VR to work quite well and I’m on Vive wands which don’t even the have the comfort of a analog stick. Oh well , I can only speak for myself.
      - dogtato
        
        Yeah I ragequit Skyrim after spending too much time and effort scrolling through menus with touchpad swipes.
      - HybridEnergy
        
        Maybe you just have fat butch fingers. lol
MarquisDeSang

Make it for the Oculus Go with an Xbox (ho! the irony here) controller.
- HybridEnergy
  
  They might decide not to make the bigger and better VR titles for the GO because they might want them to actually not be complete and utter trash.
Lucidfeuer

I hate the idea of separate packages and spin-off which paradoxically devaluates franchises while trying to enrich them…

Oh and it’s also a very greedy scheme, which on the long term always crap consequences for their financial results but that’s their problem.
A VR Enthusiastic

Thank you Bethesda.

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HybridEnergy

If you are a VR gamer then you have to at this point respect Bethesda for what they are giving us. They could easily give us in VR what the other big companies are giving, which is absolutely Effin nothing. Short, long, expensive, cheap, whatever this and that experience…at least they are doing something and putting into the VR market. It’s pretty obvious they believe in it having an audience, I never cared about Bethesda till now and I like them. They are a company that wants to entertain no matter the medium used. Otherwise we are a the mercy of modders ( love them too, Doom 3 mod still one of the best things in VR).
- A VR Enthusiastic
  
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  Well said
  
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- Brian Burgess
  
  I respect your optimism, but what these “experiences” demonstrate is that Bethesda is aware of the VR audience but because it is so small, Bethesda wants to invest as little as possible relative to return. That’s what businesses do, but it does not help a new medium take off and grow in the same way releasing the main version of one of their tentpole series would. Essentially, they are giving VR the Wii treatment.
  
  Support for VR is good, but the wrong kind of support could cripple it. The perception among a sizable chunk of core gamers, is that VR is a gimmick. Those of us who have already adopted it, and use it as the primary way we play games, know that is not the case. But, these type of segmented experiences cement that gimmicky perception rather than create a demand for VR adoption.
  
  The irony is that if these segmented experiences do not sale well, then Bethesda and other companies perceive it as a signal that VR adoption is not worth investing in. And on the other end of that burning candle, further VR adoption is stalled because core gamers perceptions are shaped by the recognition that VR is getting short, stand alone versions of titles they can play in their entirety on a flat screen they already own, with a system they already have, in a way they have been interacting with games for decades.
  - HybridEnergy
    
    Brian, I don’t think that is Bethesda’s intention. Home accessible VR has been around for not very long, research the development cycle time for a AAA regular game…it’s near 3-4 if not 5 years in some cases. If you think about it, with out their titles in VR you still have the same problem if not worse. Perhaps the Oculus exclusives being an exception for obvious funding reasons. We were already saturated and getting worse all time with short, expensive, and gimmicky indie titles that were doing us not much good. If anything, a title like Skyrim and Fallout has segmented VR as a platform that can do an “entire” experience rather than just a mini game or wave shooter. For the size of the VR market I think they are doing the best they can with out a loss of profit. Any interest is good at this point, I as well have adopted VR as my main tech focus of entertainment
    - Brian Burgess
      
      Concerning your first point, developers have had sense 2014 or so to develop VR games, in the same way that developers are given a development window for a new console. The games published by big gaming publishers like Bethesda resemble the the same pattern of support shown to popular failures like the Wii or Wii U; conservative support based ports and segmented experiences derived from mainline games. Their intent is to invest as little as possible so as to minimize risk. It shows a lack of confidence in VR to succeed as a new medium. Unlike, say, when a big developer releases a AAA game on a new console without an install base. Bethesda tested the waters with Fallout 4 and Skyrim, determined the amount of return on investment, and decided it was worth only releasing “experiences” going forward. If that were not the case, then their mainline franchises would have VR support.
      
      This type of support only creates a self perpetuating prophecy and dampens adoption. It’s plain as day that Bethesda does not plan to support VR in the way that it needs to in order to grow.
      - HybridEnergy
        
        It’s not a risk for them, it’s a given that AAA titles would be an investment loss currently. As in games that cost millions+years to develop. The number of owners of Vive, Rift, and PSVR is not a secret by any means. The market potential is no secret. VR is steadily growing, and that’s what I would have predicted to begin with at it’s price and accessibility, Who imagined VR to ever be a shock and awe campaign that dominates the entertainment industry in 2 years? not me. Either way, Wolfenstein seems more than just an “experience”, or at least they claim it’s an entirely new thing just for VR.
        
        The Wii is just another console, it’s not a revolutionary piece of technology that changes the entire experience. Nintendo always faces a different problem and I hate the Wii comparisons. They sell a lot of them but they seem to have a retention of players issue and so 3rd party games over time don’t seem to sell.
      - HybridEnergy
        
        It’s not a risk for them, it’s a given that AAA titles would be an investment loss currently. As in games that cost millions+years to develop. The number of owners of Vive, Rift, and PSVR is not a secret by any means. I understand what you are saying though, but VR is tech that once out of the bag it’s not going anywhere…I really don’t like the Wii and 3d tv comparisons. Nintendo’s problems are completely different, strong sales, low player retention rate and so low 3rd party game sales. If anything we have the opposite problem, low sales because of cost and accessibility but strong and passionate retention rate by those who go down the rabbit hole deep enough.
  - sfmike
    
    The haters cries of gimmick are a real problem as they were for 3D TV and movies. 3D TV was destroyed by haters, some of which never even had seen one and the same thing could happen to VR unless more AAA titles come out and are successful. I recall to internet critics dismissing 3D movie presentations that admitted they had never seen one as they don’t fall for gimmicks. Is see somewhat the same thing happening with VR.
    - G-man
      
      and if we get a bunch of garbage “aaa” titles, they could kill vr too. i’d rather tha companies that make “aaa” games keep their awful business practices away from vr
  - G-man
    
    did you really just try to say the wii, the third most sold console of all time, selling over 100 million consoles, was a failure?