Former EA Exec Heading Oculus VR Publishing Arm
Oculus VR now has a publishing arm.
Oculus VR updated its blog with news that it is opening a publishing arm that will be managed by former EA senior vice president, David DeMartini. The Oculus team also revealed that it has worked quietly behind the scenes with a select group of developers over the last year to populate this new arm.
"David will be leading Oculus's publishing initiative, providing Oculus developers additional resources to help them achieve their vision," the blog reads. "This means new opportunities for key developers for direct support from Oculus, and ultimately, more great content on the Oculus platform."
While at EA, DeMartini worked on a number of hits including NASCAR, March Madness, Tiger Woods PGA Tour (2002-2006), and The Godfather. Over at EA Partners, he worked with development studios that produced a number of hits including Rock Band, the Crysis series, and the upcoming Titanfall.
"What I'm doing at Oculus, it's not particularly different from what I did for seven years at EA as part of the EA Partners program," DeMartini told Gamasutra. "I'm figuring out how to partner effectively with big developers, small developers, all the way down to the individual who just wants to make something great for the Rift."
DeMartini is currently working with developers to ensure that the Oculus Rift will have a decent library of supporting games when the HMD supposedly goes retail next year. He's also making sure that developers are pushing a steady stream of content in the months after Rift's retail release as well.
Having a "publishing" arm seems to suggest that Oculus may have its own storefront for developers to sell their software modded or designed specifically for the Rift. Gamasutra said that Oculus VR co-founder Nate Mitchell would not confirm a storefront, but did admit that the company's Share platform will be expanded in the future.
"We're looking at adding support for developers to charge for their content, and we have a lot of ideas in the pipeline for Share to transform it into a key part of the [Rift] platform," said Mitchell.
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To read the full interview, head here.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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gmarsack @scubadog40 I read it the same way. No way would I put NASCAR on my resume (unless it was released by Papyrus in '94). They have no clue what they are doing with that series... :(Reply -
shahrooz when the HMD supposedly goes retail next year. 2015? I thought we will get our hands on it in 2014Reply -
bigpinkdragon286 "We're looking at adding support for developers to charge for their content, and we have a lot of ideas in the pipeline for Share to transform it into a key part of the platform,"Reply
First thing that comes to mind are micro-transactions. -
Sakkura Reply
Well, the blog post is from December, maybe that's why he got confused.12351940 said:when the HMD supposedly goes retail next year. 2015? I thought we will get our hands on it in 2014 -
bluekoala Former EA personnel huh? I wonder how much DLC I would have to buy to get the thing to work for both my eyes. And will there be a monthly subscription? And how many ads will I be seeing in the HUD of my games?Reply -
elcentral dont worry Bluekoala it will take them 4 month after lunch to fix the drm problems from not letting you use the product.Reply -
epaciga Steam recognizes good ideas when they see them, and as such have been working with senior Oculi... Steambox+Steam Controller+OR = Microsoft and Sony are going to have trouble keeping up.Reply