Korean Studio Smilegate (CrossFire, Lost Ark) is forming a strategic alliance with Austin-based virtual reality studio Phaser Lock Interactive for a “future, yet unannounced VR game title”. A post on Phaser Lock’s blog reveals that Smilegate will be handling the publishing and distribution, and that production will be a joint effort.
Michael Daubert, CEO of Phaser Lock said his team is “excited to work with an accomplished industry veteran like Smilegate”. Smilegate is probably best known for the development of CrossFire, an online FPS which first released in 2007 (Korea) and went on to become the most popular online first person shooter worldwide. According to Smilegate, there are currently 8 million concurrent users of the game.
Daubert went on to say that the collaboration with Smilegate will let Phase Lock “make an even bigger impact on the VR market”. Phase Lock Interactive made waves last year with Final Approach, a strategy sim that puts players in the role of an air traffic controller.
This marks Smilegate’s first global partnership in the virtual reality realm, and it certainly doesn’t look like the last.