News and Industry Happenings

First Contact Entertainment Raises $5 Million for VR Games

First Contact Entertainment, the new studio formed by a team of veteran virtual reality (VR) and AAA video game development talent from companies such as Starbreeze, Blizzard, Treyarch and Infinity Ward, has raised US $5 million from a collective of early stage investors since its founding earlier this year. Moving forward, that financing will fuel the company’s ambitions to create exceptional narrative-driven content that raises the bar for quality in VR gaming with a commitment to push the limits of graphics, gameplay and storytelling.

“The number one problem facing the VR industry right now is the lack of high quality, highly replayable VR content,” says Hess Barber, co-founder and president of First Contact Entertainment. “We aim to solve that problem by pioneering a variety of innovative VR gaming concepts–including unique game mechanics, compelling narratives, and DLCs. Our goal is to produce the kind of experiences that keep people coming back, again and again.”

First Contact recently acquired two new executive-level figures to further those goals. Former Skybound Interactive executive producer Matt Candler will manage publishing, business development and strategic partnerships for First Contact as Chief Revenue Officer. In addition, Jessica Ward, co-founder of VRLA, the world’s largest consumer and industry-facing virtual and augmented reality expo, will oversee the studio’s relationships with VR and gaming communities as its new director of community management.
First Contact’s debut playable VR content will launch on Steam in 2016, with future projects offering a mix of original IP and prominent licenses.

For the latest updates, please visit www.firstcontactent.com

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John Breeden II

As a journalist John has covered everything from rural town meetings to the U.S. Congress and even done time as a crime reporter and photographer.|His first venture into writing about the game industry came in the form of a computer column called "On the Chip Side," which grew to have over 1 million circulation and was published in newspapers in several states. From there he did several "ask the computer guy" columns in magazines such as Up Front! in New Mexico and Who Cares? in Washington D.C. When the Internet started to become popular, he began writing guided Web tours for the newly launched Washington Post online section as well as reviews for the weekend section of the paper, something he still does from time to time. His experience in trade publications came as a writer and reviewer for Government Computer News. As the editor of GiN, he demands strict editorial standards from all the writers and reviewers. Breeden feels the industry needs a weekly, reliable trade publication covering the games industry and works tirelessly to accomplish that goal.