Facebook acquires VR military simulator 'Onward' developer

Facebook has acquired popular virtual reality game developer Downpour Interactive which is behind the hit multi-player military simulator Onwards. 'Onward' is Dante and Downpour Interactive's first game, a multiplayer masterpiece full of challenges, tactics, and teamwork.

As part of the Facebook's Oculus Studios team, Downpour Interactive will expand upon its ethos of creating stand-out games. "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," he said on Friday. 

Dante Buckley, founder and CEO of Downpour Interactive, said that the Oculus studio plans to "accelerate the speed of our development". In 2019, Facebook acquired Beat Saber developer Beat Games and in 2020 bought Asgard's Wrath maker Sanzaru Games. "We've seen great success with Onward on the Oculus platform for several years—first on Rift and more recently on Quest," Facebook said.

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The entire Downpour Interactive team will join the Oculus Studios team in some capacity. Downpour Interactive has exciting plans for future Onward updates and future projects. We hope to bring those experiences to as many people as possible. Onward will continue to be supported on all its current platforms. "We're exploring many ways to accelerate VR, including investments in third-party content, AAA IP, hardware, and more, and we have awesome and innovative plans for the next few years of gaming," Facebook said.