Facebook buys Czech video game studio behind VR hit Beat Saber

Beat Games, the Czech video game studio behind the wildly popular VR game Beat Saber, has been purchased by Facebook, the US tech giant announced yesterday.

The game studio will remain at its Prague headquarters as an independent producer, with the company now reporting to Mike Verdu, Facebook’s director of AR/VR content.

“Beat Games is a strong team with proven potential across VR, games, and music,” Verdu said yesterday in a blog post.

“With the resources and know-how that we can offer, Beat Games will be able to accelerate, adding more music and more exciting features to Beat Saber as well as bringing the game to more people.”

Beat Games is not the first VR studio acquired by Facebook. The corporation previously purchased Oculus Studios, developer of the groundbreaking VR platform Oculus Rift, for a whopping $2 billion back in 2014.

Financial details of the agreement between Facebook and Beat Games have yet to be revealed.

The Prague-based studio will now fall under the Oculus umbrella as an independent branch of Facebook’s growing foray into the VR marketplace.

Beat Saber has become a worldwide sensation and one of the most popular VR games on the market since its initial release on Windows platforms in May 2018. It has now sold more than one million copies worldwide.

The game won a Gamers’ Choice Award for Fan Favorite VR Game that year, and has since scooped up VR Game of the Year awards from Game Developers Choice, SXSW Gaming, D.I.C.E., and Golden Joystick.

It also won the main Developer’s Award and a Game Journalists Award at the Czech Game of the Year Awards earlier this year.

In Prague, the Beat Games’ team currently consists of less than 10 people, a number that could substantially grow in the near future following its purchase by Facebook.

“We are thrilled to have Beat Games join our team,” Verdu added.

“This is just the beginning.”