Starbreeze Studios is investing $750,000 in Freeform Studios; the California based developer behind the ElemenTerra VR experience.
Per the terms of the deal, Starbreeze will finance the ElemenTerra’s development. Upon release, the company will be entitled to 50% of the game’s lifetime revenue. Both Starbreeze and Freeform now own 50% of ElemenTerra’s intellectual property rights apiece.
ElemenTerra is described as being:
“A social VR world-building puzzle game, that takes place amidst a cosmic event of the cataclysmic sort. The player will be able to take on the role as a god-like deity and assist the population of the universe to rebuild the planets.”
This is essentially a VR addition to the popular world building game genre that was created once a little game called Minecraft began grossing billions. Like Minecraft, ElemenTerra seems to place its emphasis on creation and exploration rather than combat or puzzle solving.
VR as a platform is ripe for these types of experiences. Oculus CTO John Carmack himself has been personally working to bring MineCraft onto the GearVR for quite some time. If ElemenTerra can replicate even a fraction of that title’s enormous success than this may go down as one of the savviest investments in VR history.
Starbreeze Studios is the biggest name in virtual reality that you’ve never heard of. The Stockholm based video game company actually has a virtual reality headset in development called the StarVR with specs and features that – if successful – could give Oculus, HTC, and Sony a (literal) run for their money.
This is the first major investment announcement from Starbreeze, which itself is a company that has been receiving quite a bit of funding in its own right. In January, it was announced that Starbreeze would be receiving a $40 million investment from the Korean video game juggernaut Smilegate.
Building off of that momentum, the company announced in that same month that it would be opening a VR focused arcade in Los Angeles California.
Following this flurry of announcements Starbreeze went into a relative stealth mode before emerging today with news of this investment. It seems determined to to build an ever increasing and constantly diversifying network of virtual reality gaming properties.
Starbreeze Studios certainly seems to be preparing for battle against its VR rivals. When that battle finally comes, we’ll be sure to bring you a front row seat.
