Facebook acquires Asgard's Wrath dev Sanzaru Games

Facebook has acquired Asgard’s Wrath developer Sanzaru Games, bringing the studio into its Oculus Studios brand.

Facebook says it aims to keep Sanzaru Games’ studio culture intact as part of Oculus Studios, and that it will continue to operate out of its US and Canadian offices as an independent studio, but with the added backing of the Oculus team. The blog post sharing that tidbit also mentions that “the vast majority of Sanzaru will be joining the Oculus Studios team.”

“VR is home to many remarkable developers doing incredible work, pioneering a whole new language of game design, and pushing themselves to always achieve more, explains that post. “Sanzaru Games was one of the earliest development houses to take these steps, and, just a few months ago, we saw the state of VR gaming make a huge leap forward with the launch of Asgard’s Wrath, a title that redefined what a full-length, fully-featured VR game looks like.”

Sanzaru itself has worked on over a dozen games in its 13 years as a studio, including four Oculus games since 2016.

“They approach game design with three pillars in mind: great design, beautiful art (including animation and audio), and strong tech,” writes Facebook’s director of content Mike Verdu. “It is this foundation that enabled Sanzaru to build a game as rich as Asgard’s Wrath, and it’s a strong foundation they will continue to build upon as we all push VR forward.”