“Our tracking team continued to improve their technology until we could play Expert+ songs and achieve the sorts of scores we see on Rift,” Oculus director of ecosystem Chris Pruett told TechCrunch. really was the most important benchmark for tracking, from my point of view! /ZXikUj9gOI Oculus has been using Beat Saber as a way to benchmark the quality of its new inside-out tracking system, ensuring that the new headsets can handle the game’s most advanced modes. That popularity has gradually expanded offline, with plenty of gamers that I’ve chatted with saying the viral Beat Saber videos led them to get VR systems in the first place.īut Beat Saber isn’t just helping sell VR headsets, it’s changing how the systems are built. It worked it wasn’t long after the game’s release that top streamers like PewDiePie and Jacksepticeye were playing the game for their massive subscriber bases.īeck says that videos showcasing the game on YouTube have now received more than 2 billion views. Because many of the songs were Beck’s, it was much simpler to ensure that YouTubers could freely post footage of the gameplay without concerns for takedowns or reduced monetization. Beck thinks the game was successful simply because Ján and Vladimír built the type of game they wanted to play without ever worrying about building a commercial hit.īut for a medium that’s been so difficult to showcase without putting on a headset, the Beat Saber team set out early on to ensure the game was highly visible. How the team reached this achievement requires dissecting the qualities of a viral game, which is no small task. This, despite the fact that Beat Saber is one of the most-downloaded games in VR’s early history. The team of perfectionists had a tougher time hitting their deadlines than expected, and even after releasing an “early access version” of the title a year ago, Beck still talks about finishing the game as though it’s a far-flung dream.
He also planted the idea of starting a new company around the title if it achieved the success that he thought it would.Ĭonvincing the “strict programmers” to build a venture around their demo was more challenging than expected, he admits, but Beck eventually got them on board to finish the game. “I was so skeptical, but then I saw the teaser that these two had put out and it was like something had unlocked my head,” Beck told TechCrunch.Īfter discovering the pair shared his Czech background, he contacted them and flew out to Prague to convince them to let him build the soundtrack for their new game.
Despite thinking the VR market might be a passing fad, the Beat Saber demo piqued his interest and led him to more online investigating.
building out customers for his own studio, Epic Music Productions, where he had already done some work for clients like EA, Blizzard and Disney. At the time, Beck had been living in L.A. They were already a year into development when Beck saw a demo on Facebook.
Beat Games co-founders (left to right) Hrinčár, Beck and Ilavský