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Google Buys Job Simulator Developer Owlchemy Labs
The creators of Job Simulator just got a substantial promotion. Today, Owlchemy Labs announced that it has been purchased by Google in an ongoing effort to promote and expand upon virtual reality.
Owlchemy and Google both posted their own announcements of the deal, but the gist was the same: Owlchemy makes fun and interesting VR games like Job Simulator and Rick And Morty: Virtual Rick-ality. Google wants to see more quality VR projects beyond its own experiments like Google Earth VR and Tilt Brush. As such both companies see the deal as a win for their businesses as well as the nascent technology as a whole. Owlchemy also says that it loves making "things that are absurd, highly polished, and filled to the brim with terrible puns and jokes," and that they share an "incredible overlap in vision" with their new parent company.
There's no word yet on what the studio's next game will be, but Owlchemy says it will continue making games for HTC Vive, Oculus, and PlayStation VR.
Our Take
It's good to hear
Owlchemy will have the freedom to continue being weird; the games industry
could always use more humor and creativity, and the more that Virtual Reality can surprise and
delight those who try it out, the better off the technology will be.
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