Facebook has acquired yet another developer of a popular virtual reality game, announcing on Friday that BigBox VR, makers of the battle royale VR title Population: One, will be joining Oculus Studios.
“POP: ONE stormed onto the VR scene just nine months ago and has consistently ranked as one the top-performing titles on the Oculus platform, bringing together up to 24 people at a time to connect, play, and compete in a virtual world,” Mike Verdu, the VP of content at Facebook Reality Labs, wrote in a blog post. “And while social is bringing players into POP: ONE, the quirky humor, continual updates, and pure fun of the environment keeps them coming back time and time again — we’ve even seen players scheduling time to meet in-game for a synchronous social experience.”
Population: One has been a hit, earning more than $10 million on the Oculus Store “after just a few months,” Verdu said in a February blog post. The game, which is available on both the Oculus Store and on Steam, will “continue to be supported on all its current platforms,” according to Verdu. And the game will continue to receive regular updates, BigBox VR says on its website.
But it’s not clear just yet what bigger changes might be in the works because of the acquisition. “BigBox VR has big plans for the future of POP: ONE and for other projects, but we’re not ready to share details at this time,” Verdu says, vaguely.
BigBox VR joins a slew of other VR studios that Facebook has snapped up over the past couple years. The company acquired Onward developer Downpour Interactive in April, Lone Echo creator Ready at Dawn last June, Asgard’s Wrath maker Sanzaru Games in February 2020, and Beat Saber developer Beat Games in November 2019.
