Phantom: Covert Ops developer nDreams wants to publish new VR titles from indie developers, and it’s got $2 million to help.
The UK-based studio this week announced a $2 million fund to help develop, market and publish external VR titles. nDreams says that exactly what that money will be used for depends on the kind of aid a project might need, be it funds for development, marketing support or publishing and distribution. The initiative will be headed up by VP of Publishing, David Corless and Steve Tagger, Business Development Director.
“It’s a co-funding/publishing initiative with a share of revenue coming back to nDreams also,” Corless told UploadVR. “Revenue split will depend on the funding amount, project scope etc., and every deal will have a number of factors to take into account, but all deals will be fair. We should also point out developers will keep the rights to their IP! Ultimately we want ensure we’re helping the growth of the VR market by supporting other devs to benefit from their game’s successes.”
This isn’t the first time the developer has tried its hand at publishing third-party VR games. In 2017, for example, it helped release Bloody Zombies, a 2.5D beat ’em up with optional VR support. Corless explained that, while this week’s announcement is a continuation of that foundation, “it’s more that in the intervening years since that game released and this announcement we’ve grown as a company, we have more experience and understanding of the market, the Quest has launched and helped further accelerate the market and so the time feels right to help and support other developers.”
Indeed, much has changed in the VR market since those early efforts. For starters, the Oculus Quest 2 has shown signs of promising growth for the industry since its October 2020 launch. We asked Corless if it was imperative to get these new titles onto Quest: “Naturally it’s important to work with all store teams, and for any game that we’re passionate about we’ll work with the developers and the first party to try and make those games a huge success,” he said.
Meanwhile, in-house, nDreams recently confirmed that Phantom was one of 60 titles that had generated over $1 million in revenue on Oculus Quest. The developer has not yet announced what it’s working on next, however.
