With more than one billion downloads so far on smartphones and tablets, Temple Run has become one of the biggest mobile-born gaming brands. Now it’s running into the virtual reality market.
Developer Imangi Studios has released Temple Run VR for Samsung’s Gear VR headset, which went on sale in early December. The game is a free download for the device, which uses technology from Facebook-owned Oculus VR.
“This wave of VR is in its infancy. There’s tremendous buzz around Oculus. This is the first stab at having a dedicated platform for VR games. We’re excited to see how many are going to play this thing,” Imangi’s co-founder Keith Shepherd told VentureBeat.
“For us, this is really cool technology. It’s something we want to be involved with, whether or not it is something that will make money. That’s why it’s free.”
Temple Run VR has already been praised by Oculus’ chief technology officer (and Doom / Quake lead developer) John Carmack:
Temple Run on Gear VR breaks a lot of the "comfort rules", but it has been the most "Must. Try. Again." game for me by far.
— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) December 23, 2014
The new version follows the mobile editions of Temple Run in being an endless runner game, but with the twist that it is now controlled by the player tilting their head to run and move.
“Putting a 2D Temple Run into virtual reality was cool, but it didn’t feel right. So we reimagined it as a visceral experience. It lets you feel what it is like running for your life,” said Shepherd.
The original Temple Run game was released in August 2011 for Apple’s iPhone and iPad, before being ported to Android devices. It has since spawned a full sequel, Temple Run 2, as well as branded spin-offs for the films Brave and Oz.
In June, the franchise passed one billion downloads on smartphones and tablets – a figure only previously surpassed by Angry Birds and the Talking Friends games.
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