Starbreeze Studios, developer of games like the Payday series and Brothers- A Tale of Two Sons, have revealed that they are going to establish a Virtual-Reality Arcade Venue in Los Angeles. The arcade, called Project StarCade, aims to make premium VR experiences available to the masses. Starbreeze Entertainment has not revealed a specific release date for StarCade, but a release is expected around Spring/Summer 2016. Strabreeze’s CTO Emmanuel Marquez said that “VR really needs to be experienced in person to fully be able to appreciate the phenomenon…We’ve managed to secure a prime location where people are welcome to step into our StarCade and enjoy our Overkill’s The Walking Dead experience.”
Overkill’s the Walking Dead is the initial experience for the StarCade VR, but Starbreeze is open to other developers. Marquez also stated “We’re developing our own StarCade catalog of experiences, but we’re open to any content. We will invite developers to join us and give them an opportunity to put their content in our StarCade. We as an industry continuously need to educate ourselves to make VR truly successful, and this is just the first step in our planning to do so.”
StarCade looks like some serious competition for the upcoming VR market, going up against the Occulus Rift and Playstation VR. As shown in the video above, the StarVR’s biggest feature is its wider range of motion. While most VR headsets only offer a view angle of 100 degrees, the StarVR has 210 degrees of motion which is more similar to a human’s peripheral vision. Audiences will be able to see what the StarVR will truly offer when its released in StarCade later this year.
This looks like a great move for Starbreeze Studios and the entire VR market. While general audiences are hesitant to drop $400-$600 on a VR headset, the StarCade will be a great way for people to try out the full VR experience. Even if people don’t want to buy a VR headset, the StarCade just sounds like something fun to do. Perhaps the StarCade might spark a revival for a new era of arcades. Ever since consoles were able to catch-up with Arcade machines the social experience of Arcades faded away, but since Virtual Reality is still a new and expensive technology, maybe the StarCade can bring that back.