Interesting news from the VR front today: Owlchemy Labs has been acquired by Google. Owlchemy Labs made Snuggle Truck (Free) and Jack Lumber (Free) for mobile, eventually branching out early into the VR space, where they likely have the number-one selling VR game in Job Simulator. It’s a lot of fun, and has been a launch title on the three major console/PC platforms: HTC Vive, PS VR, and Oculus. They also made the Rick and Morty VR game for Adult Swim:
The studio hit VR early and often, and now they’re owned by Google, who are an underappreciated player in the VR world. After all, they made the Cardboard standard that countless VR headsets use, along with the intriguing Daydream VR platform. Owlchemy will continue to make content for other platforms, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see their stuff come to Daydream, either.
Here’s an interesting question, though. Owlchemy has done really well in both selling VR content and raising money from investors to develop for VR. Maybe Google gave them a sacriligeous amount of money. But…what if they felt like it was the only plausible future for them? And if they felt like they had to do it, what does it say for the studios that want to do VR but might not have the kind of funding that Owlchemy did? A lot of entities with big money are seeing if there’s a gold rush in VR. What happens if VR doesn’t develop into a significant platform and the investments start running dry, with software sales having limited efficacy in keeping studios afloat?
