Demeo: What's next for the successful VR franchise?
Demeo is one of the biggest franchises in VR gaming. This begs the question: What's next?
I'm a huge Demeo fan. In fact, I've spent more time in Demeo than any other VR game.
After its initial release in May 2021, Demeo quickly became one of the most successful VR titles. On Meta Quest, it is among the 25 most rated premium games.
This is certainly due to the diligence of Resolution Games, which has released four new adventures, a 2D version for PC and Playstation 5, and numerous new features such as the Heroes' Hangout or a Mixed Reality mode (Quest-exclusive) in two years.
However, since the release of Reign of Madness in December 2022, no new adventures have been released or announced. A PVP mode originally planned for 2022 has been postponed to 2023 and will be released as a standalone title called Demeo Battles (see trailer below). There is no exact release date yet.
Main focus is on Demeo Battles
Following the departure of two Demeo community managers in March and May, the studio released a statement on the status of the franchise in June. The Discord message states:
"We still have a development team dedicated to the game as well as a separate team working on Demeo Battles. Our main focus for the franchise at the moment is releasing Demeo Battles this year. We are also continuing to work on hand tracking for Demeo on Quest devices, and remain committed to providing ongoing support to ensure a great play experience across all of Demeo’s supported platforms. We will make announcements as we have more to share, and appreciate your continued interest in the game."
Demeo Battles seems to have grown into a much larger project than the team originally planned. I take the delay and the spin-off into a standalone title as a good sign: Resolution Games apparently saw more potential here and wants to fully realize it without putting themselves under time pressure. Just like a quality studio should do.
Demeo has a big fan community
The statement leaves it open whether there will be new adventures for Demeo this year. I wouldn't bet on it. The core team might be taking a creative break from Demeo to do something else after two very intense years. But that's just speculation on my part.
Not that Resolution Games has been idle: Demeo came out earlier this year for PSVR 2 and PS5 and maintaining the game on so many platforms (Meat Quest, Playstation VR 2, Pico, PC) is a lot of work in itself. I'm hoping that an improved mixed reality version of Demeo is in development for Meta Quest 3, enhanced hand tracking included. But that could be wishful thinking.
In response to my inquiry, a studio representative said they had nothing to add to the statement at this time.
I'm excited about Demeo Battles, but the PVE adventures of Demeo will always be my favorite. I'm patient and not worried about when new content is coming. Demeo is, as far as you can tell from the outside, the studio's biggest hit to date, and it has a huge fanbase behind it that is eager for new adventures.
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