VR studio nDreams: multi-million investment in high-quality VR games
Aonic Group is investing $35 million in VR studio Ndreams, which aims to develop high-quality VR games for Sony's Playstation VR 2 and other devices.
Ndreams has been known for fresh game ideas designed from the ground up for virtual reality at least since its kayak-sneak game Phantom: Covert Ops. So far, due to budget and the young medium, Ndreams titles have tended to be short and compact in design. The initially thrilling action title Fracked, for example, ran out of steam after a few hours because it lacked variety.
With the 35 million US dollars from the Aonic Group, the British game studio wants to tackle more complex game projects in the future, but maintain its VR focus. The funds will mainly flow into larger, more ambitious VR games.
Ndreams plans big games for PlayStation VR 2
Several titles are already in the works, including games for Sony's Playstation VR 2 for the Playstation 5, NDreams explains. Co-founder Patrick O'Luanaigh speaks of an important moment for his studio, saying VR is on course to become a mass-market technology. The multi-million investment decisively accelerates the studio's growth and creates new opportunities for game development.
Aonic Group becomes a minority investor alongside founding investor Mercia Asset Management. Back in January 2022, Ndreams already established a new studio focused on AAA titles.
Studios for AAA titles, indie and live games.
In addition, Ndreams intends to use the new investment to strengthen its activities as a publisher. Since February, the studio has been looking for VR games to support and market as part of its "Academy Initiative."
Ndreams is aimed at projects that exploit the "immersive and active potential of the medium" and also offers help in areas such as localisation, production and technical advice. A first result of the initiative is the VR building game Little Cities by Purpleyonder in the style of Sim City.
Ndreams is also venturing into the service game space with its "Orbital" studio, founded in July 2021 for "live games in VR."
$100 million for mobile, PC and VR games
In addition to Ndreams, the first investments include mobile game developer TutoTOONS and mobile advertising company AddApptr. It is not known whether more aggressive monetisation in Ndreams games might be planned to accompany this.
Aonic emphasised the advantages of its own decentralised structure when founding the games group. Thanks to this type of organisation, studios would not interfere in the development process.
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