Facebook acquires Sanzaru Games

Facebook has acquired Asgard’s Wrath developer, Sanzaru Games, for an undisclosed sum. 

The Sanzaru team will join Oculus Studios as an “independently operated” studio and remain working out of their current offices in the US and Canada. While it seems most employees are unaffected, Facebook could only confirm that “the vast majority of Sanzaru” would be moving to the Oculus Studios team where it will “help [Facebook] pursue a future of rich, immersive, and original VR game content”.

The megacorp indicated it would not be disclosing terms of the deal and the studio has “nothing to announce about future projects at this time”. 

“We’re exploring many ways to accelerate VR, and 2020 is going to be an incredible year for VR game launches and announcements,” said Mike Verdu, Facebook’s director of content. “We are thrilled to have Sanzaru joining our team. This is just one of the many amazing VR announcements we have in store this year.

“As part of Oculus Studios and supported by our latest advancements in VR technology, Sanzaru will continue to make amazing VR game experiences for gamers around the world as an independently-operated studio. We couldn’t be more excited to see what they build next.”

Facebook also recently acquired cloud gaming company PlayGiga for €70 million (£59.4 million) and Beat Games, the developer of Beat Saber, for an undisclosed sum. 

In a press release issued at the time, Facebook said: “Beat Games’ accomplishments are already impressive, but Facebook and the Beat Games team know that there is so much more that can be done across VR, games, and music. They have only scratched the surface with Beat Saber in terms of social features, new modes, music, and more. We are thrilled to join forces to see where this talented team takes VR gaming in the future.”