Another VR developer has come under the control of Facebook. This time, the American BigBox VR, which developed the battle royale Population: One, became part of Oculus Studios.
Population: One
The amount and most of the details of the transaction are not disclosed.
The entire BigBox VR team will join Oculus Studios. The purchase will not affect the fate of her current project — Population: One. The game will continue to be supported on all current platforms.
Facebook also promises to help with the following BigBox VR projects. It is not yet clear what specific games we are talking about and when they will be announced. But Facebook added that it has “big plans” for them and for Population: One.
BigBox VR opened in 2016 in Seattle. Currently, there are two games in the VR developer’s portfolio: Smashbox Arena and Population: One. The release of the latter took place on October 22, 2020, and at the moment the title is considered one of the most popular on the Oculus platform.
Note that this is not the first time Facebook has invested in VR studios. The previous deal took place in April 2021, when the corporation bought Downpour Interactive, the authors of the Onward VR shooter, for an undisclosed amount. Other acquisitions include Beat Games (Beat Saber), Sanzaru Games (Asgard’s Wrath) and Ready at Dawn (Lone Echo).