Earlier this year HTC partnered with the Ready Player One movie to produce a promotional VR hub called the Oasis. The free app served as a portal to a range of minigames, some tying into the Steven Spielberg-directed movie (which is based on the book of the same name) and others reusing content from previously-published Vive Studios apps. The experience has continued to receive free updates throughout the year but, this week, it’s getting its first premium update.
Instead of adding new games, the Elite Gunter Pack DLC expands on the existing content inside the Oasis with new levels. For example, Steel Wool Studios’ VR shooter, Battle for the Oasis, has been upgraded with eight new missions that add new boss battles and environments. Directive Games’ Gauntlet, meanwhile, adds new levels and power-ups to its dungeon-crawler-themed campaign.
Finally, 2 Bears Studio’s two contributions to the Oasis, Smash and Fracture, have both added new levels. Eagle-eyed VR fans will know that these two games already appear in the Vive Studios-published Arcade Saga and previously launched on the Oasis as stripped back versions. It’s not clear if these new levels are indeed ‘all-new’ content or simply the remaining content added in. We’ve reached out to HTC to clarify.
Speaking to UploadVR ahead of the reveal, Vive Studios head Joel Breton said that the Oasis was “probably our biggest project” and more is on the way.
“I mean it’s actually it’s got a huge amount of people downloading it,” Breton said. “It’s probably our number 1 downloaded title so far. So there’s a big footprint out there. So if people engage and really like the new content and let us know they’re interested, we’ve built this framework in the Oasis to expand it infinitely so we could actually make it the real Oasis.”
Breton envisions a hub that HTC can seamlessly add new worlds too, but will the Oasis keep the Ready Player One label as we move further away from the film’s release?
“So, as long as people want to engage with Ready Player One, it’s a great story, it’s a relevant VR universe, so we’ll keep adding it as long as people engage with it,” Breton explained. “And we have plans definitely to go into next year so that will do for sure. But then it’s a matter of two years from now, will people still care? So we’ll have to see. It’s kind of up to the fans to tell us.”
The Elite Gunter Pack is currently available on Viveport for $19.99 or via the Viveport Subscription service. There’s no word yet on when the pack might arrive on Steam.
