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Meta Acquires Camouflaj studio and Armature (Iron Man VR coming to Quest 2)



I always thought Camouflaj was an acquisition target for sony but i guess Meta beat them to the punch. they are also getting Iron Man which was a Sony published game, which means the Quest and PSVR will most likely be sharing a library from this point outside of the big exclusives like team asobi and horizons game.
 

CamHostage

Member
they are also getting Iron Man which was a Sony published game, which means the Quest and PSVR will most likely be sharing a library from this point outside of the big exclusives like team asobi and horizons game.

Wait, how are you getting that Quest and PSVR will be sharing a library from this acquisition news?

Iron Man was a Sony-published game, but there's no indication in this title coming from one platform to another that there's any friendly exchanges leading to a future partnership going between Sony and Meta for VR releases. I don't know if it's clear what the rights were with Iron Man (maybe specifically Camoflaj had the rights and took them to Sony, rather than Sony having the rights and then finding a developer? that'd be weird but Marvel Games operates on a curious wavelength; or maybe just as part of the acquisition Meta went to either Sony or Marvel Games and redid the terms so that Camoflaj would have a project immediately in the move over; Sony Interactive did get a credit in the Iron Man VR Meta trailer so rights were involved.) Whatever the case with the Iron Man rights though, Meta and PlayStation VR are competitors and so far seem unlikely to cross over much more with their product lines.

Or are you just saying that a lot of major 3rd-party VR game will be Quest and PSVR2, same as it has in the past with a lot (but of course nowhere near all) Quest-Rift / PSVR1 games?
 
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Wait, how are you getting that Quest and PSVR will be sharing a library from this acquisition news?

Iron Man was a Sony-published game, but there's no indication in this title coming from one platform to another that there's any friendly exchanges leading to a future partnership going between Sony and Meta for VR releases. I don't know if it's clear what the rights were with Iron Man (maybe specifically Camoflaj had the rights and took them to Sony, rather than Sony having the rights and then finding a developer? that'd be weird but Marvel Games operates on a curious wavelength; or maybe just as part of the acquisition Meta went to either Sony or Marvel Games and redid the terms so that Camoflaj would have a project immediately in the move over; Sony Interactive did get a credit in the Iron Man VR Meta trailer so rights were involved.) Whatever the case with the Iron Man rights though, Meta and PlayStation VR are competitors and so far seem unlikely to cross over much more with their product lines.

Or are you just saying that a lot of major 3rd-party VR game will be Quest and PSVR2, same as it has in the past with a lot (but of course nowhere near all) Quest-Rift / PSVR1 games?

https://uploadvr.com/oculus-games-on-psvr/

Could we one day see Oculus exclusive games like Lone Echo, Stormland and Asgard’s Wrath on PSVR?

Oculus’ Jason Rubin would like that very much. Speaking to Kotaku at E3 last month, Oculus’ VP of Special Gaming Initiatives said he would “love” to make a trade with Sony.

“We’ve thought about it,” he replied when asked if Oculus games could come to PSVR. “I would love to make a trade with Sony. You know they have great stuff that they funded, and we have great stuff we’ve funded.”

The ironic thing about this is Stormland is quest exclusive and it was made by insomniac. So yeah, I think both Sony and Meta have a vested interest in seeing VR as a general platform become more viable. I see both companies working together a lot more int he future rather than as direct competitors. The market isn’t big enough for that yet.

For ex. I would be highly surprised if they don’t port Beat Saber over to PSVR2 even though its first party meta title now. Even stuff like Alyx i expect will eventually get a PSVR2 port. All these companies investing in VR need other companies actively investing in 3rd party companies to make more software.
 
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onesvenus

Member
https://uploadvr.com/oculus-games-on-psvr/

Could we one day see Oculus exclusive games like Lone Echo, Stormland and Asgard’s Wrath on PSVR?



The ironic thing about this is Stormland is quest exclusive and it was made by insomniac. So yeah, I think both Sony and Meta have a vested interest in seeing VR as a general platform become more viable. I see both companies working together a lot more int he future rather than as direct competitors. The market isn’t big enough for that yet.

For ex. I would be highly surprised if they don’t port Beat Saber over to PSVR2 even though its first party meta title now. Even stuff like Alyx i expect will eventually get a PSVR2 port. All these companies investing in VR need other companies actively investing in 3rd party companies to make more software.
Yeah, let's put everything everywhere so people won't have a reason to buy our headset. That sounds like a plan 🤦‍♂️
 
Yeah, let's put everything everywhere so people won't have a reason to buy our headset. That sounds like a plan 🤦‍♂️

The hardware itself suits two completely different markets. It’s like the Switch versus the PS5, and again, the market isn’t big enough to horde developers, if sony or meta fails it just makes it harder to get 3rd party software as theres one less major party investing in the tech and software.

Sony and Meta both get a windfall of software from the other due to the resources they put in. Without Sony Meta wouldn’t be getting an Iron Man game. One of them dying off just shrinks the market which is already really small

A rising tide lifts all boats
 
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Romulus

Member
The Iron Man VR game is sitting at a 73 on metacritic with a 6.2 user rating... I think that explains why Sony didn't buy them.

Oculus LOVES Sony's sloppy seconds on studios Sony has no interest in moving forward with.

It could be a lot better on Quest because the technology for tracking is about 10x better. Seems a game that uses hand tracking for flight this would be really important. I know some people complained about that on PSVR. I actually liked the game itself. Also, load times were the biggest complaint, I'm not sure if they can't improve that but it's not impossible.
 
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I'd love to smoke the things Sony fanboys smoke.
If Sony hadn't made an ironman game, Meta could have gone to Marvel and license the IP the same way Sony did if they had wanted to.
That savior complex about Sony is crazy

But they didn’t and its not about having a savior complex it’s about growing a niche tech market between a handful of platforms
 
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Buggy Loop

Member
The Iron Man VR game is sitting at a 73 on metacritic with a 6.2 user rating... I think that explains why Sony didn't buy them.

Oculus LOVES Sony's sloppy seconds on studios Sony has no interest in moving forward with.

A development studio can only flex its potential if the publishing house allows for it.

Ready at dawn going from the order 1886 to Lone echo is a good example. Lone echo is by far the better game and regarded as a must play in VR.
 

CamHostage

Member
The hardware itself suits two completely different markets. It’s like the Switch versus the PS5, and again, the market isn’t big enough to horde developers, if sony or meta fails it just makes it harder to get 3rd party software as theres one less major party investing in the tech and software.

Sony and Meta both get a windfall of software from the other due to the resources they put in. Without Sony Meta wouldn’t be getting an Iron Man game. One of them dying off just shrinks the market which is already really small

A rising tide lifts all boats

Eh, sort of. Sony for sure changed the playbook by putting its games on PC, and to some degree it had already done that when it did some mobile titles back in the day. It's no longer a company about a box and maybe also a handheld box; it's a company about its brands and services, where they find an audience for them.

...Still, there is a fight going on. Meta and Sony can only be pals where it makes sense to their own bottom line and the value of its user base. Meta can say, SURE, we'd love to exchange titles with Sony, wouldn't that be great for both of us, but of course they aren't expecting Sony will eagerly port over Horizon CotM just because it sounds like a fun idea that would just sell some more copies of the game. (Meta's brands are not as strong as Sony's, but they're keeping RE4 VR close after paying to have that made, though RE4 Remake will have VR support so that's even less a chip to deal; MoH Above and Beyond, similar case that external publisher EA could bring it elsewhere but it helps as a Quest exclusive right now.)

Meta getting the rights to Iron Man VR might have been a make-good with Sony to not tick off Marvel by saying no (they're done with the game anyway so it wasn't worth a fight.) Or it could have been grease to help get some of the Insomniac VR games out of Meta's hands (if they actually have rights beyond being the original publishers; supposedly Insomniac owns those games despite Oculus putting them out.) Or it could have been, as you say, a tactical decision to make friends in the VR space, since the competition in VR right now isn't other VR players, it's everything else not-VR that has to be overcome if VR is to succeed. It's not clear yet what the terms of the deal are, though, and we'll have to wait to see if there's any greater implications in this exchange of the license...

(*EDITED: I said something about EGS, as I didn't remember if Sony was supporting both EGS and Steam and I didn't see Uncharted or Horizon on EGS when I went there, but apparently it's just that the Epic search engine bites...)
 
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Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
A development studio can only flex its potential if the publishing house allows for it.

Ready at dawn going from the order 1886 to Lone echo is a good example. Lone echo is by far the better game and regarded as a must play in VR.

I'm not saying a development studio can't out perform a previous game, obviously they can. I'm simply telling you why Sony probably wasn't interested.

They work with A LOT of studios and they aren't going to buy everyone and everything. Makes more sense to invest when you have seriously impressive results rather than when you don't.
 

Romulus

Member
I'm not saying a development studio can't out perform a previous game, obviously they can. I'm simply telling you why Sony probably wasn't interested.

They work with A LOT of studios and they aren't going to buy everyone and everything. Makes more sense to invest when you have seriously impressive results rather than when you don't.


Tbh, not many games on PSVR did well on Metacritic anyway, especially when the game is based around tracking those shitty controllers like Iron Man. Even the stuff by bigger studies usually had average ratings outside of Astrobot.
 
Eh, sort of. Sony for sure changed the playbook by putting its games on Steam (yet weirdly not EGS), and to some degree it had already done that when it did some mobile titles back in the day. It's no longer a company about a box and maybe also a handheld box; it's a company about its brands and services, where they find an audience for them.

...Still, there is a fight going on. Meta and Sony can only be pals where it makes sense to their own bottom line and the value of its user base. Meta can say, SURE, we'd love to exchange titles with Sony, wouldn't that be great for both of us, but of course they aren't expecting Sony will eagerly port over Horizon CotM just because it sounds like a fun idea that would just sell some more copies of the game. (Meta's brands are not as strong as Sony's, but they're keeping RE4 VR close after paying to have that made, though RE4 Remake will have VR support so that's even less a chip to deal; MoH Above and Beyond, similar case that external publisher EA could bring it elsewhere but it helps as a Quest exclusive right now.)

Meta getting the rights to Iron Man VR might have been a make-good with Sony to not tick off Marvel by saying no (they're done with the game anyway so it wasn't worth a fight.) Or it could have been grease to help get some of the Insomniac VR games out of Meta's hands (if they actually have rights beyond being the original publishers; supposedly Insomniac owns those games despite Oculus putting them out.) Or it could have been, as you say, a tactical decision to make friends in the VR space, since the competition in VR right now isn't other VR players, it's everything else not-VR that has to be overcome if VR is to succeed. It's not clear yet what the terms of the deal are, though, and we'll have to wait to see if there's any greater implications in this exchange of the license...

Yeah, Sonys games are on Epic btw…

I mostly agree, that they aren’t exchanging 100% of their software. I assume it will be regulated to 3rd party/2nd party deals, like the Iron-Man game is a good will gesture possibly like you said for some of the Insomniac games since they hold the publishing rights for them (not the IP) and possibly something like Beat Saber.

It makes sense for them to play nice with each other with the markets being as small as they are right now. Maybe once each VR unit crosses the 20m+ mark things will start to get more competitive and cutthroat but as of right now they have more to gain by sharing a couple of games.

Theres also the idea that a lot Sonys AAA titles might not be compatible with Quest 2
 

solidus12

Member
First Ready At Dawn, now Camouflaj...

Wake up Sony, and no, as PlayStation fans, we don't want mobile games from mobile developers or GAAS games from Bungie...
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Tbh, not many games on PSVR did well on Metacritic anyway, especially when the game is based around tracking those shitty controllers like Iron Man. Even the stuff by bigger studies usually had average ratings outside of Astrobot.
And you haven't seen Sony make any heavy investments in studios that did mostly PS VR stuff either.
 
First Ready At Dawn, now Camouflaj...

Wake up Sony, and no, as PlayStation fans, we don't want mobile games from mobile developers or GAAS games from Bungie...

Lets not pretend that that if sony announced it acquired 3 VR centric studios there wouldnt be a gigantic frenzy over how sony doesn’t care about its “core” fans anymore

Bored Larry Bird GIF by SB Nation
 
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boutrosinit

Street Fighter IV World Champion
Zero plans to ever call this headset anything other than an Oculus.

Meta Quest sounds so painfully unnatural and awkward.
 

ArtHands

Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
The Iron Man VR game is sitting at a 73 on metacritic with a 6.2 user rating... I think that explains why Sony didn't buy them.

Oculus LOVES Sony's sloppy seconds on studios Sony has no interest in moving forward with.
Its because the game is held back on PSVR with the bad tracking, shitty controllers among others with technical performances.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
That we know of. I would imagine since there are 20 launch games and we've seen a few, then there's more.

Buying companies isn't something you can do quietly as a publicly traded organization.

I think we're going to see a bunch of "ports" for PS VR for existing games like Gran Turismo 7.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
I've been wanting to try Iron Man VR. Not enough to buy PSVR, though. So this works out for me.

It's nice that Meta is investing in gaming.
Listening to some of John Carmack's comments, RE4VR was the test bed to see if a high-quality internal game could drive headset adoption and usage. Apparently, it was a run-away success, so Meta is investing. GTA:SA VR is their next big project, but I haven't seen too much on that yet.
 

CuNi

Member
Good news for VR in total, bad news for open VR as Meta will just lock those games in their ecosystem as usual.
 
Listening to some of John Carmack's comments, RE4VR was the test bed to see if a high-quality internal game could drive headset adoption and usage. Apparently, it was a run-away success, so Meta is investing. GTA:SA VR is their next big project, but I haven't seen too much on that yet.

I hope that means GTA6 will have a VR mode
 
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