The VR industry is changing, but Fast Travel Games is staying true to its roots
Despite record sales and the recent hype around mixed reality and spatial computing, Fast Travel Games will remain "pragmatic" and stick to what it does best: making VR games.
The studio's CEO, Oskar Burman, recently spoke with Game Developer about the state of his studio and the industry in general.
Fast Travel Games has more than doubled its holiday sales year-over-year, driven by the success of its VR game Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice. Released in November for Meta Quest and PSVR 2, it is the VR studio's biggest title to date. In total, the studio's VR games sold more than 100,000 copies in November and December 2023, Game Developer reveals.
Despite this success, Burman wants to remain "pragmatic" and not let his studio grow out of control. The studio currently employs about 70 people, which Burman says is just right for titles the size of Justice and other upcoming games.
"We have to keep making games good enough to keep encouraging audiences to get into VR, and that's a step-by-step process. It's only when we see larger growth on that side that we can really consider how much bigger our studio can be," Burman tells Game Developer.
VR studios are caught between VR, MR and Spatial Computing
The CEO believes that the industry may have rushed too fast to make VR more than just a video game console, and that the market still needs to define itself.
"We saw the industry make a metaverse push that audiences weren’t quite ready for, and devices aren't yet comfortable and robust enough for all-day work, so in a sense it felt like trying to run before we could walk," Burman says.
Now, mixed reality and spatial computing raise another set of questions. For the time being, Fast Travel Games will stick to developing VR games.
"We're definitely interested in MR and how it can grow the market, but we ultimately still see ourselves mostly as a VR games developer and publisher and believe in the expansion of that market." For now, Burman wants to see VR studios release bigger and better video games that can attract a wider audience.
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