Months after departing Owlchemy Labs, Reimer returns to VR with a new studio that aims to create social VR games with "more accessible" design.
Devin Reimer, ex-CEO/co-founder of Owlchemy Labs, has opened a new developer, Astrobeam. Like his previous venture, the studio will focus on VR games, and is already at work on a multiplayer project for the technology's many devices.
"[We're] focused on creating more comfortable, more accessible, and more human ways to hangout and have fun with friends in VR!" it wrote. "We are leveraging incredibly natural and highly interactive ways of socializing by focusing on hand tracking and voice communication with both friends and NPCs!"
As part of its announcement, Astrobeam has already received $3 million in seed funding, including the Venture Reality Fund and Boost VC. The studio itself will be based in Austin, TX (like Owlchemy), but operate on remote work, as shown in its current job listings.
Reimer transferred from Owlchemy's CTO to its CEO in 2018 following the departure of fellow co-founder Alex Schwartz. This past February, he announced his own leave from the studio and was succeeded by longtime veteran Andrew Eiche.
Under Reimer's tenure, the studio released titles such as Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator, and Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality.
Astrobeam's explicitly stated focus on socializing comes amid a larger push in VR by companies like Meta to create metaverse spaces like Horizon Worlds. Much of Reimer's alum studio's titles were single-player affairs, making the shift to multiplayer interesting.
Likewise, the desire to create "more comfortable and more accessible" titles is noteworthy. VR can sometimes be restrictive due to its price or what it physically asks of the player. With the industry's larger focus on accessibility, Astrobeam may be able to help improve that in the VR space.
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