A new virtual reality game that is being announced today may have inadvertently revealed the secretive release window for Google’s new Daydream mobile VR platform which was also revealed just hours ago.
NetEase Games is the developer behind Twilight Pioneers – one of the first games being intentionally developed with Daydream in mind. In a press release circulated to industry journalists, the company announced that it will, “premiere Twilight Pioneers concurrent with the launch of Daydream in November 2016.”
Google’s VP of virtual reality, Clay Bavor, made no mention of a November release window when he announced Daydream onstage at the I/O developer conference this morning. The narrowest he was willing to go in terms of a launch date for the platform was “fall 2016.”
NetEase was listed as one of Daydream’s premier partners during Bavor’s portion of the keynote address. This means that the company would certainly be privy to the concrete release date for Daydream and that the November mention in its press release is more likely a mistaken leak of the release month, rather than being incorrect.
Despite the November release window, not much has been revealed about Twilight Pioneers itself. NetEase classifies it as an “Action Role Playing Game” that is set in a “fantasy world.” One thing we do know about Daydream experiences in general, however, is that they will require the Google-created controller.
This controller is aesthetically very similar to the Oculus Remote and is clearly designed with ease of use in mind. However, the Google controller also includes some basic gyroscopic and velocity tracking components, which could have interesting uses in an ARPG.
Hacking with swords, casting spells, even navigating menus would all be made vastly more enjoyable – and vastly more practical – by using this controller. Google Cardboard’s previous “one button” system simply wouldn’t cut it for a game as complex as Twilight Pioneers is hoping to be.
We will bring you more news about Twilight Pioneers, and Daydream itself, as it becomes available.
