Facebook acquires Downpour Interactive
Facebook has acquired Downpour Interactive, that is the team of the Onward military-based shooter currently in the early access phase, making it definitively enter the Oculus Studios and therefore presumably putting it to work on projects specifically aimed at virtual reality.Onward is, for its part, a tactical first-person shooter with a military setting designed for virtual reality, so clearly the developers already have the experience required to carry out projects within Oculus Studios. The game has been in Early Access for nearly five years and it is likely that with this acquisition it will finally get the support it needs to reach a definitive version, unless there is an intention to jump directly to something else.
Onward is a tactical military shooter developed for virtual reality "Downpour Interactive leads the VR industry as a first-rate example of a developer working in communion with its loyal community to create gaming and social experiences in the best way," he said. Facebook in the release announcing the acquisition of the team within Oculus.
On the other hand, Downpour CEO Dante Buckley has assured players that this agreement is great news for them too : "By joining Oculus Studios on Facebook, we can now realize the full vision of Onward with tremendous support and resources," said Buckley.
The expansion of Fa continues cebook in the gaming field with the acquisition of development teams to increase Oculus Studios: before Downpour we saw the acquisition of Beat Games, Sanzaru Games and Ready at Dawn.
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Facebook has acquired Onward developer Downpour Interactive
Facebook has acquired Downpour Interactive, developer of VR military sim Onward. Mike Verdu, VP, AR/VR Content at Facebook, issued a statement on the Oculus site, saying that 'as part of the Oculus Studios team, Downpour Interactive will expand upon its ethos of creating stand-out games that evoke the human spirit and give players a 'downpour' of emotion. We’re so happy to welcome them to the family.'
Everyone at Downpour Interactive will be join the Oculus Studios team 'in some capacity', while Verdu gives this as the reason for the acquisition:
'We’ve seen great success with Onward on the Oculus platform for several years—first on Rift and more recently on Quest. Becoming part of the Oculus Studios family will give Downpour Interactive the opportunity to cultivate both the Onward community with the full support of Oculus Studios resources, and, in the future, pursue other projects.'
Verdu says that Downpour has 'exciting' plans for those future projects, and for updates to Onward. The game's been in early access for five years—you can play it on PC and Oculus Quest, and with a bunch of different headsets, not just the Oculus Rift—and Verdu says that support will continue for all current platforms. Meanwhile, Downpour Founder and CEO Dante Buckley had this to say in a FAQ on the game's site:
'With us joining Oculus Studios at Facebook, we can now realize Onward's full vision with tremendous support and resources. This means a better game for all our players on all platforms. There are no changes in hierarchy or in vision, everyone at Downpour is still working hard to deliver you the best game possible. Thank you all for your continued support, and stay tuned for future updates and content.'
Buckley says there will be no changes to Onward's roadmap, other than that the team will be able to 'accelerate development of new features'. Meanwhile, there will be 'no staff changes at Downpour Interactive as a result of the acquisition, and the same developers who were working on Onward before the acquisition will continue to do so now.'
This isn't the first time Facebook has acquired the developer of a VR game. Over a year ago, Facebook acquired Beat Saber studio Beat Games. If you're tempted by the Oculus Quest, but would rather not deal with the enforced Facebook account, then the good news, I guess, is that you can spend an extra $500 to buy a Facebook-free version of the headset.