CharacterBank Aims to Create the "Mario" of Virtual Reality

Tracking the success of virtual reality can be challenging due to its unique position between widespread adoption and relative obscurity. While VR experiences are becoming increasingly common in public spaces, the market for extended, interactive experiences remains limited. According to internal Meta figures, approximately 20 million VR devices have been sold across all models since 2019, with 5 million original PSVR units sold as of 2020 and around 600,000 PSVR 2 units sold as of May. Although these numbers are not insignificant, they pale in comparison to the broader gaming industry, with VR accounting for only 1.3% of the market in 2023 and expected to rise by just 0.4% over the next four years. Despite this, the VR community is passionate and dedicated, with many believing that the industry is waiting for a flagship title to showcase the medium's potential to a wider audience. Experiences like Beat Saber and Half-Life Alyx have garnered attention, but their appeal has not yet extended beyond the existing VR enthusiast base. CharacterBank, a Kyoto-based studio, is one of the companies striving to create a defining VR experience. Japan appears to be an ideal market for developing VR experiences due to its strong gaming culture and receptivity to new technologies. The presence of VR centers and theme park attractions in Tokyo, such as the popular Monster Hunter full-body VR experience, demonstrates the appeal of VR in the country. Shuto Mikami, founder of CharacterBank, and Will Loubier, head of marketing, aim to capitalize on this trend. "We're still in the NES era of VR," Loubier explains. "We're waiting for the VR equivalent of Mario to come along and push the boundaries of what's possible." CharacterBank was founded in 2019 as an experiment by Mikami, who comes from an engineering background and has a passion for gadgets. The studio's early projects focused on creating immersive experiences that facilitate communication and usability, with their first game, Ansuz, relying heavily on player interaction and context clues. The studio's subsequent project, RuinsMagus, was a single-player RPG that presented a new challenge for the team. With limited game development experience, they had to learn quickly and build partnerships to bring the game to life. The team has since grown from 12 to 30 members and is working on multiple projects, including a new PSVR 2 port of RuinsMagus and the free title Kemono and Chibi. Mikami believes that Japan has the talent to create a iconic VR game, citing the country's strong gaming culture and history of innovation. "Japan will create a famous VR game in the future, something like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest," he says. "We hope to be the ones to create it."