Virtuos is a giant in the video game industry, though perhaps not in the way that you usually expect. Established in Shanghai in 2004, the studio has a reputation for being one of the leading studios when it comes to porting AAAs to various systems.
To a certain extent, their reputation is well deserved. They made one of the most famous ‘impossible ports’ of a video game to the Nintendo Switch, namely, Nier: Automata The End of YoRHa Edition, a good five years after its original release.
But it also isn’t entirely accurate, as Virtuos has also done extensive work as a support studio for AAAs. So, while they ported Horizon Zero Dawn to Windows in 2020, they also worked on Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 as a support studio.
Timur222 found some interesting news on what Virtuos is up to. One Yongfeng CAI, aka Felix, has been working in Virtuos for 4 years, and they have updated their profile.
Listed under Experience, Felix has indicated they have been a game producer in Virtuos since September 2022. They then described their current job using these words:
“Creating blockbuster AAA games.
Including:
Cross generation and multi-platform full game adaption (Unannounced)
Open world FPS game full level creation. (Unannounced)
World-renowned IP full game remake for next gen platforms. (Unannounced)”
As you can see, of the three listed projects, only one of them sounds like it is the usual port that we expect from the company. In fact, we may already know what this game is. For the past three years, there have been persistent rumors that Virtuos is working on either a remaster or a full remake of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Some of the sources of those rumors are former Virtuos employees themselves.
But the other two games are equally tantalizing prospects. The “full game adaption” may be for an upcoming license title. Given its description, its possible that this game is being made for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, as much as it is going to the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation, and possibly, the Switch 2.
Truthfully, there’s no lack of potential games that fit this description, that we know are in development even if they haven’t been announced. This ranges from Hogwarts Legacy 2, to the rumored original FIFA licensed soccer game, which could even be a Lego FIFA game.
The open world FPS may be the most exciting prospect among them. Last 2023, Virtuos revealed they would start creating new video game projects on their own, under the Virtuos Originals branding. They’ll still need publishers for these games, but since we haven’t heard from them about this initiative, its possible that this is the first inkling we have of one such Virtuos Original project.
These are our best guesses for these potential projects, but it is generally great to know that a studio as talented as Virtuos is this active with new projects. We certainly hope to learn more about them in the near future, and if our guesses are correct, at least one of them will be announced this year.
