HTC opens in-house, first-party VR developer, Vive Studios

The best video game platforms have first-party developers. Consider Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo for a moment. Now, imagine if those consoles only sold third-party developed games.

Oh boy.

HTC is stepping up to the plate with Vive Studios, a brand new, internal studio that will develop games exclusively for the Vive.

Their first effort, though, is a little lacking. Arcade Saga is a $29.99 trip into arcade games in VR. You’ll find takes on Breakout, Galaga and Arkanoid. You’ll need to do better, HTC. Though it sounds like this is just the first of hopefully many games for the studio.

In the release announcing the news. HTC Vive Vice President of Content Joel Brenton had this to say:

“We’re excited to formally unveil Vive Studios as a new pillar in HTC’s initiative to drive persistent growth for VR…

…Vive Studios’ aim is to nurture and discover development talent and help create content that will continually push the boundaries of the kinds of experiences VR can deliver.”

Here’s hoping for a breakout first-party game for VR from Vive Studios

If you look at the first-party games from traditional hardware makers, they’re the ones that sell systems. Mario, Halo, Uncharted. These are games that are completely exclusive, unrivaled experiences that fans have to buy specific hardware to play, and they’re normally really, really good games.

HTC needs that from Vive Studios.