HTC is continuing to invest heavily in building up the virtual reality ecosystem that it hopes to one day dominate.
Steel Wool Studios, an Oakland-based gaming studio made up of Pixar veterans with a few decades of animation experience under their belts, announced today that it has closed a $5 million round of Series A funding coming entirely from HTC, the manufacturer of the Vive virtual reality headset.
Steel Wool Studios has long had a special relationship with HTC and the Vive platform. The studio began with a focus on mobile gaming, but after the founders visited the Valve HQ in 2014 and began playing around the earliest developer prototypes of the Vive headset, the company quickly pivoted to building virtual reality content. The studio released an action strategy title, Quar: Battle for Gate 18, alongside the launch of the headset in April.
Techcrunch (31 Aug.)