ForeVR Games' CEO Marcus Segal told us about the company's approach to creating games, shared what it's like to be a company that appeared in a post-pandemic world, and explained what ForeVR does to gain audiences.
ForeVR Games
I'm Marcus Segal, the CEO and co-founder of ForeVR Games. I've been working in the games industry since 2008, cutting my teeth at Zynga, building games like Words with Friends and Farmville. At ForeVR, I lead a diverse and talented team of gaming veterans and imagineers with the goal of translating popular, classic IRL games into immersive VR experiences for friends and families that transcend geographic limitations to connect people in the pursuit of fun.
ForeVR co-founders, Marcus Segal and Mike Doom
Receiving $10 Million in a Series A Funding Round
Our $10 million Series A, which brings our total raised to $18.5 million, will go toward expanding our existing library of games. With participation from existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners and Galaxy Interactive, Buddy Arnheim at Lobby Capital led the round. He has a great passion for VR and has been a part of many Silicon Valley growth stories – OpenTable, TicketsNow, Trulia, and Quizlet. We also added the incredible Pauline Moller to the board, who served as the SVP at Zynga and the SVP & COO at EA Sports.
ForeVR's Titles
ForeVR has built its own template as a foundation for our titles. This template leverages Unity, Vivox, Photon, Playfab, and AWS and provides the connective tissue between all of our games.
To address simulator sickness, we support teleportation locomotion. We find this is the most accommodating to players new to VR because of its lack of movement. We support both standard teleportation and smooth locomotion as well as snap and smooth turning options, giving the player choice.
We are careful to not "move" the player with camera pans, so the player has full control at all times. Players can freely move with their feet if they choose or navigate the virtual space while sitting, reclining, or laying down. The team is also conscious of UI depth and spatial audio, which can discombobulate a player or cause nausea.
Making a Commercially Successful Game
Our approach to creating commercially successful titles is to continuously release new casual games to expand our connected universe (the ForeVRse, if you will) and surprise and delight our players. In the past three months, we've released two new titles – ForeVR Cornhole and ForeVR Pool – and we plan to continue the momentum in 2023.
Attracting New Audiences
While a few other companies are approaching casual VR gaming, we are delivering the highest quality, AAA-rated, immersive games. We have a stacked team of developers and former execs from places like Zynga, EA, and Glu who are making sure that we center on gaming aspects fans love, like socialization and multiplayer features. We feel that leaning into these features – from the music jukebox with thousands of songs to interactions like high-fives and fist bumps – gives us a leg up on others in our space.
COVID's Influence on ForeVR
Our company launched in December 2020, so we've only existed in a post-pandemic world. The pandemic was and continues to be difficult for many people. We've been moved by our role in uniting people when they can't be in person with others, whether due to living in different places or social distancing. Escapism has always been an appeal for gaming and entertainment, and our VR games provide an escape from the real world, still infused with real human interaction and connection.
Since we launched, we've been entirely remote. As the fabric of our company resides in a love for VR and the belief that gaming brings people together, we frequently meet up within our games to connect as a team. A few other companies have followed our lead, using our games for company outings and team bonding.
ForeVR's Roadmap
We want to own the "casual gaming for VR" category and will continue building games that help us do this. We'll have more news to share early next year. Until then, we're always interested in hearing from talented, passionate people who believe in our vision and want to help us build it. If you're interested in working with us, feel free to reach out.