Facebook Buys the Maker of the Popular VR Game ‘Beat Saber’

Janko Roettgers
·2 min read

Facebook has acquired Beat Games, the maker of the popular virtual reality (VR) music game “Beat Saber,” the social media giant announced Tuesday. Beat Games will operate as an independent studio under Oculus Studios, and continue to support “Beat Saber” on all existing platforms, according to a blog post penned by Facebook AR/VR director of content Mike Verdu.

“‘Beat Saber’ is a perfect example of why VR is so exciting — VR reimagines old genres and invents new ones,” Verdu wrote. “The team at Beat Games made a leap forward in innovation and design with the stellar blend of game mechanics and music in ‘Beat Saber,’ and yet we know that they, along with so many other devs, are just getting started.”

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“Beat Saber” has become a hit with VR users ever since its release in May of last year. The game can best be described as a mixture of “Fruit Ninja” and “Guitar Hero,” requiring users to slice squares to the rhythm of the music.

It became the first VR game to sell more than 1 million copies earlier this year, and has since become a top title on Facebook’s Oculus Quest as well. In fact, the popularity of “Beat Saber” has been such a boon for VR that Facebook prominently included the game in advertisements for the VR headset.

Beat Saber even made an appearance on the “Tonight Show,” with Jimmy Fallon competing against Brie Larson:

“Beat Saber” originally started out with an EDM-heavy music catalog, including many original tracks composed by the studio’s co-founder Jaroslav Beck. However, as the game became more and more popular, Beat games was also able to sign a number of high-profile music deals, bringing tracks from Imagine Dragons and Panic at the Disco to its audience.

Going forward, players should expect additional tracks as well as features, according to Verdu. “With the resources and know-how that we can offer, Beat Games will be able to accelerate, adding more music and more exciting features to ‘Beat Saber’ as well as bringing the game to more people,” he wrote Tuesday.

Verdu also used his blog post to address concerns about the acquisition, writing: “The story we aim to prove over time is this: An indie studio joins forces with some like-minded allies, and together they find a way to push VR to new heights.”

Facebook did not disclose the amount it spent on Beat Games.

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