While Meta tries to convince users to attend virtual work meetings in its metaverse, ForeVR Games, a VR gaming startup with casual games like bowling, darts and cornhole, is a reminder that virtual reality is supposed to be fun.
ForeVR announced today a $10 million Series A funding round, which is being put toward building its gaming portfolio and cementing itself as the “Wii Sports of VR.” Lobby Capital led the Series A funding round with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and Galaxy Interactive. The new capital brings the company’s total raised to $18.5 million. Angel investors include Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, and founders of Twitch, Emmett Shear and Justin Kan.
Much like Wii Sports, ForeVR games are designed to be easy to play. Since launching in 2020, ForeVR has released three games– ForeVR Bowl ($20), ForeVR Darts ($10) and the newest addition, ForeVR Cornhole ($15).
ForeVR games can be played single-player or multiplayer on the Meta Quest or Meta Quest 2. Players can unlock skins for their cornhole bean bags/boards, darts and bowling balls, listen to music through YouTube-powered jukeboxes, as well as explore different “halls” and bowling lanes, such as bowling in Atlantis or playing darts at a British pub.
Plus, the games are all connected, so if a player owns multiple ForeVR games, they can meet up with friends through in-game portals, allowing them to “bowl on the moon and then head directly to a ForeVR pool hall in Texas through the portals,” CEO and co-founder Marcus Segal told TechCrunch.
Thanks to the company’s latest funding, the “ForeVRse,” as Segal likes to call it, will continue expanding. The company is set to launch its fourth title, ForeVR Pool, a virtual reality 8-ball pool game for all ages, on November 17. It will be available in the Meta Quest Store for $20.
Earlier this month, Meta boasted that of the more than 400 apps in the Quest Store, over one-third are making millions in revenue. Although Segal wouldn’t reveal exactly how much revenue ForeVR has earned, he told TechCrunch that it surpassed the $1 million mark.
Segal also said that since legs are coming to Meta’s avatars, ForeVR plans to “leverage that technology” when the time comes.
Image Credits: ForeVR Games