One big name developer that has dominated headlines of late, Rockstar Games, may not be done with VR gaming according to HTC’s boss.
What good news that would be for the niche if it is true.
A report from UploadVR states General Manager Joel Breton of Vive Studios said of big-name developers in VR: “So now everybody is out there building VR, unfortunately, it’s just not public yet…So all of the third parties are working on VR now.”
Citing the company’s work on L.A. Noir: The Case Files, a VR title, Breton went on: “That one, that was lovingly handcrafted…They went through everything, every art asset, every animation. Any part of the game that didn’t work, they cut from the VR experience so things that ended up in those seven cases that are in the VR version, those were very very selectively chosen. They figured that would work.”
Putting L.A. Noir on the HTC Vive headset was a joint collaboration between HTC and Rockstar, and one that the former is eager to repeat. A procedural detective story, L.A. Noir is very immersive and atmospheric but also slow paced, making it ideal for a transition to a VR game.
What would happen if Rockstar took some other more action-oriented titles to market? It’d be a really big deal.
This doesn’t come as much of a shock given Rockstar’s track record in the industry. As the makers of some of the hottest games out there, Rockstar’s impact on VR would be huge.
The makers of the recent Red Dead Redemption 2 and the most profitable media property of all time, Grand Theft Auto V, Rockstar can pick and choose its projects and the market can be confident the final product will be outstanding. It is even expected that Red Dead Redemption 2 could meet or surpass GTA V. That would make Rockstar Games a veritable and undeniable titan.
In fact, the UploadVR article goes on to speculate about what Rockstar could do with its existing IP right now in terms of virtual reality games. Why reinvent the wheel when you have a rack full of them already?
Featuring a first-person view mode, Red Dead Redemption 2’s immersive elements are almost ideal for a VR mode to be added in later on.
Of course, this will probably come after Rockstar launches RDR 2’s much-anticipated online mode.
Those dollars that GTA V racked up in becoming the most profitable media property of all time? Most of them came from GTA Online, the game’s massive multiplayer mode.
GTA Online is another title that would be cool in virtual reality but, really, the Rockstar Games’ stable is so full of champion horses that it’s tough to pick just one. The Bully series is also a great premise for a VR title if they ever chose to pursue that route.
Whatever Rockstar Games does, you can bet there will be a slew of imitators in their wake. That’s probably the biggest benefit of a Rockstar showing up – they make everyone want to become famous.
