News

Samsung quietly acquires mobile VR developer VRB for a reported $5.5 million

Increasing internal Gear VR development

Date Type Companies involved Size
June 20th, 2017 acquisition Samsung
VRB
$5.5m
Samsung quietly acquires mobile VR developer VRB for a reported $5.5 million

Samsung has quietly acquired New York-based mobile VR developer VRB for a reported sum of $5.5 million.

As reported by TechCrunch, the acquisition was actually made in April 2017, but no announcement was made at the time.

The exact figure for the acquisition has not been reported, with VRB co-founder Christopher Paretti simply saying "the deal amount will remain undisclosed."

Samsung's purchase increases its capabilities for in-house development of apps and games for its VR platforms. It will also to maintain VRB's apps, released on both Gear VR and Google Cardboard.

Personal space

VRB had released two apps for Gear VR prior to its acquisition, both of which are now listed as being developed by Samsung. It has released a "personal VR space" called VRB Home with a customisable house to play around in, and a 360-degree VR photo sharing app called VRBFoto.

The developer was co-founded by Paretti and Christopher D. Kairalla. Paretti has previously held roles at Samsung, Gree, Nokia, and Yahoo, while Kairalla was an assistant adjunct professor at New York University.

The Gear VR has a growing userbase, having sold over five million units as of January 2017. One of its biggest games, Resolution Games' Bait!, has sold one million copies on the platform so far.


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Ric is the Editor of PocketGamer.biz, having started out as a Staff Writer on the site back in 2015. He received an honourable mention in both the MCV and Develop 30 Under 30 lists in 2016 and refuses to let anyone forget about it.