Four men responsible for helping shape Call of Duty over the past decade have teamed up with the animator of Disney’s Roger Rabbit, Jafar and Ursula. Together they’re making an FPS for use with VR heasets like the Oculus Rift, which they plan to release next year.
Reload Studios total 12 staff in all, led by co-founders James Chung and Taehoon Oh. As Infinity Ward’s lead artist, Oh worked on “most weapons and vehicles from [the] last six COD projects over ten years”.
They’re joined in Los Angeles by Modern Warfare producer Pete Blumel, Homefront survivor and software engineer Hougant Chen, and Nik Ranieri.
Ranieri has spent the last 25 years at Disney, and was named the 20th most influential animator in Disney history on the blog that ought to know. Ranieri was laid off alongside most of the company’s traditional animators last year, however, to mild outrage.
“When I first saw what the latest round of VR devices could do, I realized these were not just peripherals but brand new platforms that could transform the way we experience, interact with and create media,” said Chung.
“It was the perfect time to follow my passion and bring together the most talented people I know under one roof to form a development culture that promotes creativity and collaboration.”
Oh added: “People are always looking for something new. Just as smartphones changed the way we live our lives, I am sure VR will change the way people experience media content.
“As a game developer, this realization compelled me to become part of a new team that focuses on developing VR content.”
If Reload meet their release target of 2015, theirs might be the first FPS designed to be at home on the Rift. Our Rob’s time with Team Fortress 2 VR edition suggests that might be something we’d like. What do you reckon?