Interested in learning what's next for the gaming industry? Join gaming executives to discuss emerging parts of the industry this October at GamesBeat Summit Next. Learn more.
nDreams has launched a new virtual reality game studio headed by mobile gaming veteran Chris White.
White is a former senior development leader at Electronic Arts (The Sims Social), Glu Mobile (Project Gotham) and Space Ape Games (Transformers: Earth Wars and Samurai Siege).
Now he will run a studio for live game development at nDreams. This second VR venture is nDreams Studio Orbital, which will focus on developing live games for VR.
The new studio will be fully remote and nDreams is actively recruiting for several key roles for that can be viewed on the nDreams website, said White in an interview with GamesBeat. He previously served at FitXR, a leading VR/AR fitness company.
Event
MetaBeat 2022
MetaBeat will bring together metaverse thought leaders to give guidance on how metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business on October 3-4 in San Francisco, CA.
Above: Chris White is leading nDreams’ new VR studio.
“We’re going to be working on new VR titles and they’re going to have a live game element to them,” White said in an interview with GamesBeat. “Hopefully, we can build titles that persist for years that players want to engage with for years. And that’s what we’re going to focus on.”
He said the new studio has a broad focus for now and it will begin hiring people soon. The target is to expand to about 25 people for the first project, depending on what the team chooses. White is the sole studio leader so far.
White is a 20-year veteran of games who has focused on mobile for much of that time.
“What excites me about VR is it has the potential for similar growth, as you see more and more players getting involved within the industry,” he said. “The technology is coming on in leaps and bounds year on year and there’s still so much to do in terms of awesome games and products that we can release. So from my perspective, there’s just a lot of opportunity there.”
Above: nDreams is shooting for live VR games.
nDreams has had some VR hits. Phantom: Covert Ops, Far Cry VR: Dive into Insanity, and Fracked have secured nDreams position as a VR gaming leader.
“At Farnborough, we are already working on multiple titles,” said Tomas Gillo, chief development officer at nDreams, in an interview with GamesBeat. “One of the reasons for this is to provide flexibility in terms of how people work. We can attract talent from all over the world by being fully remote. Remote working isn’t for everyone. Some people still want to work face to face and nDreams can now offer both.”
Increasing the capacity to deliver more VR games, nDreams Studio Orbital will enable nDreams to develop a more diverse portfolio of games across a range of ways to play. The studio will benefit from shared learnings, technologies, and infrastructure with nDreams’ Farnborough, England-based headquarters.
“The new studio is actually completely virtual,” White said. “We have a number of things working in the Farnborough office, which is coming out of lockdown now and moving to a hybrid solution. But all of the development staff for the new studio will be distributed and remote.”
As for the future of VR, White said, “We’re gonna see a wider array array of genres and play patterns to cater growth” ranging from golf titles to music games.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Learn more about membership.
