As with many things in life, one hand giveth, the other taketh away, with news reaching us that Oculus Story Studio, the VR firms film division, is to close barely a year after it launched.
Jason Rubin, the company’s VP of content, has said Oculus “decided to shift [its] focus away from internal content creation to support more external production,” despite gaining an Emmy for outstanding Original Interactive Program.
The good news is that Marvel are really excited about VR and are about to make some big announcements.
“We did a deep dive in looking at the space towards the end of last year, and it offers some pretty incredible opportunities, in terms of delivering really cool experiences,” explains Marvel Games’s Jay Ong. “We can’t say anything yet, but believe me, we’re not shying away from it.”
“There are absolutely things in the works, but we’re just not quite ready to announce them yet,” he adds. “We think if we do something there, it shouldn’t be just for the novelty of it. It should be something that defines the platform, that defines the experience.”
The Lone Steven
VR is kinda perfect for Iron Man due to how the suit works but Hulk, Thor, basically most Marvel heroes may prove to be disorienting due to their fighting styles. Ok, Iron man may be just as disorienting but in theory, it would be like piloting a ship.
As for Oculus. Remember when they were meant to be the next big thing? Yeaaah, they’ve kinda not become that and whilst they can claim that it’s moving away from original content(Because Gaming never needs more of that/sarcasm), I’m inclined to believe it is because they are dying and having to try to cut costs where possible.