Oculus games boss would ‘love to trade’ VR exclusives with PlayStation
“We’ve thought about it,” says Jason Rubin
Facebook’s VP of special gaming initiatives has said he’d like to trade Oculus VR exclusives with first-party PlayStation VR titles.
Jason Rubin, who runs first-party gaming at Oculus, mentioned a potential crossover between the two platform holders during an interview with Kotaku.
“We’ve thought about it,” he said. “I would love to make a trade with Sony. You know they have great stuff that they funded, and we have great stuff we’ve funded.”
Upcoming Oculus exclusives include Stormland, a sci-fi shooter from Spider-Man studio Insomniac set for a holiday 2019 release, and a realistic first-person combat experience from Titanfall and Apex Legends developer Respawn, which will be featured at this September’s Oculus Connect showcase.
Earlier this month, a report claimed Facebook could be set to invest $1 billion in a new VR gaming push centred on acquiring studios or exclusive content, spearheaded by Naughty Dog co-founder and former THQ president Rubin, with personal involvement from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Facebook is rumoured to have agreed deals with Ubisoft to bring the publisher’s blockbuster Assassin’s Creed franchise to Oculus VR, as well as the fan favourite Splinter Cell series, although the French publisher’s CEO was coy on the company’s VR plans when asked about them during an earnings call this week.
Oculus launched its latest VR headsets, Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S, in May 2019.
Rubin declined to offer hardware sales figures during the Kotaku interview. “You know there are people that are interested in purchasing [VR], but these things always move slowly,” he said, before later suggesting Facebook’s CEO is committed for the long haul. “Mark is a patient individual.”
Following its launch in October 2016, PlayStation VR sales topped 4.2 million units worldwide as of March 2019, according to Sony.
