Polyarc PS5 PSVR2 PlayStation VR2 1

Moss developer Polyarc is recognised for its charming, diorama-like platformer adventures – but its next project will be something of a departure for the studio. Still being developed exclusively for virtual reality headsets – although PSVR2 is not explicitly mentioned in the press materials – its next game will aim to “broaden the appeal of VR” by offering a competitive multiplayer experience.

“Doubling down on the VR market, Polyarc’s next game gives new and existing competitive gamers something to look forward to in the VR space,” reads the official press release. “Players can now sign up to participate in the closed playtest taking place the weekend of 14th April through 16th April, 2023.” As alluded to above, it looks like the playtest will take place on Meta Quest 2 for now.

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“We are happy to see that the audience for VR continues to grow, now counting in the tens of millions of players, with more user-friendly and accessible headsets being released every year,” said co-founder Tam Armstrong. “As a game development studio that aspires to create games for everyone, we want to find ways to reach more of the audience within VR and even create space for new folks to join us there. With that in mind, the greater number of players gives us the opportunity to try ideas we have for multiplayer gameplay that can offer more to competitive players.”

Essentially, the studio’s had the idea for this game since it was founded in 2015, but it believes only now the install base is big enough to support it. There’s no real mention of what the game will actually entail, although the artwork is strikingly similar to Moss, so we’re going to assume it’s set in largely the same universe.

Armstrong added: “We are excited about this opportunity, as VR offers interesting considerations for multiplayer games. The ability to read the other player’s focus and intention as they move their head and hands are some of the elements that make playing games in person so compelling. We are looking forward to sharing what we’ve been working on and the fun we’ve been having playing it.”

Multiplayer games are definitely elevated in virtual reality, but we’re sure most fans would have preferred a hypothetical Book 3 in the Moss series, as opposed to a multiplayer spin-off. Nevertheless, we respect the developer’s ambition, and clearly it’s been sitting on this idea for a while, waiting for the medium’s market to be in a strong enough place to support it.

[source polyarcgames.com]