MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Starbreeze and Acer have announced a new capitalisation plan for its virtual reality headset, StarVR. Under the new agreement, Acer will now contribute $5m to the joint venture and increase its interest to 66.7 per cent. Starbreeze, meanwhile, will be relieved from its remaining captial commitment of $7.5m and its interest will be 33.3 per cent.
Originally announced in June 2016, StarVR was created with a capitalisation plan of up to $25m that was to be shared equally between Acer and Starbreeze through capital injections on a set schedule. As of today, a total of $10m have been injected into the company in equal amounts by both companies, but no further capital injections have been agreed. Both parties are still proceeding in their support of the venture, though, and as majority owner Acer will be able to help with future financing for StarVR Corporation should the need arise.
Starbreeze will still hold StarVR-related IP rights, including patents and trademarks relating to InfiniEye, the StarVR headset, ePawn and the StarVR SDK. Acer, on the other hand, will continue to hold patents related to electrical engineering, mechanical design and ergonomics used in the headset. R&D and reference design for the StarVR headset will also be carried out by both Starbreeze and Acer going forward.
“Starbreeze remains fully dedicated to the field of VR where we see great potential in the development of location-based VR that gives users access to premium VR experiences. We have pushed design and technical innovation to fruition in our StarVR collaboration with Acer. Starbreeze will continue to push innovation in the headset and focus on its core business – content. Our games and related premium VR experiences will primarily use the StarVR headset for location-based VR centers and we are eager to continue contributing to the success of StarVR,” says Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint.
Acer Chairman and CEO Jason Chen added: “VR is one of Acer’s key focus areas, as we continue to make huge strides across hardware, software and content development to unlock its potential. The increase of Acer’s stake in StarVR underlines our commitment to the industry, and we look forward to continuing to deliver best-in-class VR experiences through our successful partnership with Starbreeze and ongoing technological innovation."
