Interactive software developer ForwardXP has announced a new games division, Forward Game Studios, for the purposes of internal game development and publishing.
The Dallas-based enterprise VR studio is expanding beyond VR into video game development and independent game publishing. Previously, ForwardXP has been involved in publishing titles such as Please Don’t Touch Anything and Guilt Battle Arena since its establishment back in 2017. Its new, dedicated label has already contributed to development of Insomniac Games’ Stormland for the Oculus Rift, and is currently working on an “unannounced AAA multiplatform title” made in Unreal Engine.
Along with the new division, ForwardXP has announced it has hired former EA, Activision, and Gearbox art director Justin Thomas as studio art director.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to bring someone of Justin’s immense talent and experience to our studio as we develop both our rapidly growing Enterprise virtual reality business with ForwardXP and our triple-A game development and independent game publishing business which is now called Forward Game Studios,” said ForwardXP CEO and co-Founder, Steve Nix.
Nix added, “The VR business that we set out to build in 2016 has continued to rapidly grow and we had our best year for VR in 2019 and we already have more VR work booked for 2020 than we ever have before,” he said. “The strong reception of the Oculus Quest for retail customers, and its adoption by enterprise users makes us more confident than ever that VR is finally here to stay for the long term. We sold more units of Please, Don’t Touch Anything for the Quest during December than any of the console or PC versions of the game during a given month before that.”
