Facebook’s Oculus division has grabbed up one more popular virtual reality game engineer. On Friday, the organization reported it has procured Downpour Interactive, the studio behind the hit multiplayer military simulator Onward.
“We’ve seen great success with Onward on the Oculus platform for several years — first on Rift and more recently on Quest,” Mike Verdu, Facebook’s VP of AR / VR content, said in a blog post. “Becoming part of the Oculus Studios family will give Downpour Interactive the opportunity to cultivate both the Onward community with the full support of Oculus Studios resources, and, in the future, pursue other projects.”
Everybody from Downpour Interactive will move over to the Oculus Studios team “in some capacity,” Verdu said. He likewise affirmed that Onward will in any case be supported on the entirety of the platforms where it’s at present accessible: the Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, and Steam.
Dante Buckley, founder and CEO of Downpour Interactive, said in a FAQ on the studio’s site that Onward’s feature roadmap “remains unchanged” and that the studio plans to “accelerate the speed of our development” because of the acquisition. Downpour Interactive will also continue to retain “full control of all development,” he said.
The procurement is Facebook’s most recent to amplify Oculus Studios. The organization purchased Beat Saber designer Beat Games in November 2019, Asgard’s Wrath producer Sanzaru Games in February 2020, and Lone Echo maker Ready at Dawn in June 2020.