It feels like we’re entering a period of serious consolidation in the game industry as many smaller studios are getting bought up by the major corporations that are either part of it already or coming into the business. Facebook is one such latter entity as they’ve beginning to muscle into the industry with their Oculus VR initiative.
It was announced via Facebook itself along with a FAQ explaining the situation that Beat Saber’s studio, Beat Games, is now under their umbrella. It’s interesting in and of itself, but what’s more interesting is probably that the FAQ explicitly states that more acquisitions will be coming soon with an almost ominous statement at the end.
“We’re exploring many ways to accelerate VR, and we think next year is going to be an incredible one of VR game launches and announcements. We are thrilled to have Beat Games join our team. This is just the beginning.”
Microsoft has purchased a lot of studios, with Sony also getting in on that with the recent purchase of Insomniac Games. Right now it seems that Facebook is mostly regulating itself to the VR business, but who knows what this “beginning” this will lead to.