Introduction: As 2024 continues to bring massive layoffs in the global game development industry, many might consider that a niche market like virtual reality would be in particular danger of contraction. However, companies like AEXLAB and their latest game show that there is a big untapped potential in the same domain.
Article: The decision to start making a video game is too often something that teams take on very easily. Besides having the technical necessities and a team that can deliver such a product, a company might only need a business plan to set the same project in motion. With those things in place, developers can start making any idea into a playable reality. However, out of all of the teams that take on this challenge, many end up with a product that never sees the light of day. Even fewer companies end up with a viable and commercially successful video game that covers the production costs.
That is why so many businesses and investors propping them up want to see the development cycle be as short as possible. That is why, for example, in the AAA game production domain, a title might take anywhere between two and four years to complete. Anything more than that, the investors become jittery and more likely to pull the plug on the whole setup. After all, the history of video game production is full of stories where a video game kept breaking deadlines and dragging its production until the whole thing gradually fell apart. So, the smart move is always to limit the production process. But, a recent example from the VR gaming niche shows an exactly opposite scenario.
Doubling the Production Cycle
With the benefit of limiting the production period, the other massive risks of development are more acceptable and the chance of an endless money drain drops down significantly. The same rule of thumb is present in the virtual reality gaming sphere. Here, the investors might be even more worried about the chance of a project dragging out forever, keeping in mind the limited reach of this gaming space. Because of that, the fact that a US company called AEXLAB developed its VR game for nearly eight years is so fascinating.
Their title, called VAIL VR, came out at the start of 2024. The game is a first-person shooter set in a multiplayer competitive environment. Since then, the game has managed to generate positive reviews and substantial sales. Furthermore, AEXLAB used the time working on the game to develop and deploy their own VR game engine. While all of this is very atypical for the gaming industry, the same case shows that the potential of the VR gaming market is not just present right now, but primed for further strong growth in the coming years.
AEXLAB Story
The company, as well as its development of VAIL VR and the same game engine, began in 2017. Back then, in Miami, Florida, brothers Jonathan and Albert Ovadia decided to create not just a VR game, but a whole new engine to build other multiplayer virtual reality titles. Even in the late 2010s, the development cycle for a high-end VR game was about three years. Instead of going that route, the Ovadia brothers took on a much longer path toward a product that is multi-faceted. With a 30-person team, where about half of all employees are situated in the company’s Main office, the AEXLAB operation began. Their focus was mirrored in both their game and the game engine they were making: creating a technically excellent experience in virtual reality. That included a strong focus on the performance of VR headsets, especially for multiplayer FPS titles like VAIL VR.
With those, the team had to combat issues of latency, which makes competitive gaming challenging, but also things like physical representation of players in the game, choice of finely-tuned maps, and so forth. There are no shortcuts or fast-track options for a development of that type. Instead, the company and its developers need to test and iterate things like map design, while technical elements have to be streamlined time and time again. To create a product of that type, years of in-house testing are necessary, which seems like the exact thing that the AEXLAB team did. Additionally, the team reached out to the Meta VR team and closely collaborated with them. That offered not just a way to improve the game but also put the game engine in a strong position to support one of the key players in the VR headset arena – the Meta Quest series. While all of this took many years, the initial results of the VAIL VR launch speak for themselves.
VAIL VR Release and Results
VAIL VR came out in the middle of February 2024. It is available on Meta Quest market as well as on Steam, where it offers support for all popular virtual reality headsets. On Steam alone, the game has generated mainly positive reactions, where it so far got over 1,100 reviews. That is a substantial success this early on for a VR release, keeping in mind the market size and current purchasing potential. Additionally, nothing speaks better for the game engine than AEXLAB than metrics like this.
Here, the technical capabilities are particularly important, as other developers will look towards the AEXLAB game engine and try to figure out if it works for their development needs. Furthermore, the company is planning to launch its new game this year as well. That title will be a battle royal release and chances are it too will quickly find a sizable audience. Having in mind that the team around the initiative continues their work on the same product, it is certain that the success of VAIL VR and other releases will continue to send new interested companies their way.
Developing for the Future
AEXLAB management is certain that there is a big future in VR gaming. Despite the insecurities that the whole game development industry is facing, the recipe for success of the Ovadia brothers and their team is simple: high-quality titles developed over as much time as needed. Underneath it, there is the company’s game engine which could be an even bigger success when it gets deployed commercially.
Both approaches are a solid signal to other gaming companies, especially those who might consider reaching out to Apple and developing titles for Vision Pro, another big and untapped market. Presently, it is no competitor to the Meta Quest space, but the same fact can change gradually with enough companies taking the AEXLAB route. Here is the hidden but very real potential of the VR gaming market – while it cannot make massive global gaming hits right now, the ability to attract new customers and keep old ones engaged is undeniable. AEXLAB and VAIL VR simply showcase the same fact in numbers and other such ventures are bound to appear and follow their example.
Author:
Ivica Milaric
Game designer and game design teacher at the Academy of Arts, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia