Eve Online developer CCP Games is getting out of VR development, a move that will bring about 100 layoffs and the closure of its Atlanta studio and the sale of one in Newcastle.
“Despite the success of the VR games we have released we will be shifting our focus to our PC and mobile initiatives,” CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson told the Iceland Monitor. “We will continue to support our VR games but will not be making material VR investments until we see market conditions that justify further investments beyond what we have already made.”
The move will leave the main studio in Reykjavik and two others in London and Shanghai. Development will continue on EVE Online, as well as multiplayer PC shooter Project Nova and mobile title Project Aurora. CCP said it will continue to support its already released VR titles Sparc, Gunjack, and EVE: Valkyrie, the latter recently being updated to be VR optional.
Pétursson said the company still has faith in VR, but CCP will likely not return to VR development for at least two to three years.
"It's always hard to do such actions but they are important and if we want the company to reach 30 years, we sometimes need to make policy and organizational changes," he said.
While the VR titles have been successful for the company, the audience for VR games is still small. But Pétursson said he feels that "virtual reality will eventually change the world."
Source: Iceland Monitor via The Verge
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