This post originally appeared on our sister site, VR Source.
Google has made a major, and somewhat surprising, move in the VR gaming space. The company has acquired Austin, Texas-based Owlchemy Labs, the developer behind a number of acclaimed PC and console VR games like Job Simulator and more recently Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality. The specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. In August 2016, the company announced it had received $5 million in funding from a number of investment groups.
See also: Rick and Morty Virtual Rick-ality Review
In a blog post, Google stated that the Owlchemy Labs team will continue to work on creating new VR games and experiences across many different platforms. In its own announcement, Owlchemy confirmed it will keep making games for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and PlayStation VR headsets. However, since the team is now part of Google, you can bet that it will also expand its work to include Google’s own VR platform, Daydream.
Owlchemy Labs was founded in 2010 and since then it has released a number of games for PC, mobile, and console platforms, but has concentrated most of its work in the past few years in the VR space. Job Simulator, which launched in 2016, has received a ton of great reviews for its humor and gameplay, as it allows players to perform tasks as an “Auto Mechanic”, “Office Worker”, and more.
The Rick and Morty game it developed for Adult Swim, based on the hit TV animated series, was just released a few weeks ago and has also received good reviews (our review here). Owlchemy Labs has not yet announced its next game project.