Ramen VR Talks About The Challenges Of Securing Investments For Zenith
Virtual reality gaming is like a tiny fish in a big pond, and making an MMO in VR? Well, let’s just say you’re swimming upstream. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Ramen VR CTO Lauren Frazier shared some of the challenges the studio has faced while developing its VR MMO Zenith, particularly when it came to convincing investors to open their wallets.
Frazier admitted that VR gaming didn’t take off as quickly as anticipated, and making a VR MMO only added to investors’ skepticism. “It was hard [pitching] because VR and MMO are two of the riskiest things you can do. So, by doing both of them together, many investors were very wary,” Frazier said. “A lot of investors have been burned by the first round of VR that didn’t quite pan out.”
Frazier emphasized that investors were already skeptical of VR, and adding MMO to the mix only made it worse. “The biggest hurdle was two risky ideas that people are already on the fence about. A lot of people focused on the VR side of [Zenith] just because the market is small," she added.
Despite the limited market, Frazier said it was crucial to make Zenith cross-play across multiple VR platforms. She also discussed the challenges of making the MMO work across multiple devices and controllers, as well as competing against other genre heavyweights.
The interview, however, didn’t touch on why Ramen VR hasn't released a desktop version of the game despite promising Kickstarter backers that they would.
As for Zenith itself, Ramen VR announced on Twitter that its upcoming Skyward Summit content update will be entering open testing on May 5th. The much-hyped update promises a whole host of new content for the VR MMORPG, such as the Cyber Ninja, player housing, new lifeskills, and combat adjustments.
Overall, it's clear that creating a VR MMO is a challenging endeavor, and even more so in a market that’s still in its infancy. But with a strong cross-platform strategy and ongoing updates, Zenith could be a contender in the world of VR gaming.
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Our upcoming patch, Skyward Summit, will be available for open beta testing starting on May 5th! Try out Cyber Ninja, player housing, new lifeskills, combat changes & more! All players are invited to take part and check out the new features!— Zenith MMO 🇺🇦 (@ZenithMMO) May 1, 2023
