For Flat2VR Studios, first impressions were everything after becoming an official developer.
Created from the Flat2VR community and part of Impact Reality, we’ve seen countless VR mods across the years and Flat2VR Studios aims to become a bridge for making such adaptations official. After the team’s unveiling back in March 2024, several months passed before its debut game would be unveiled. Few expected that would be the comedy music game Trombone Champ: Unflattened.
“There’s a big part of the Flat2VR community that wasn’t particularly happy that [Trombone Champ] was the first game we chose,” admits Eric Masher, Chief Operating Officer & Co-founder of Flat2VR Studios.
Speaking to UploadVR at PG Connects London 2025, Masher explained that the studio anticipated this response. Its first announcement had to prove the team “are never married to one genre,” which is why Flat2VR Studios showed four games during August’s VR Games Showcase.
But why specifically lead with Unflattened? Masher states this “was one of the harder games we could have picked because it was completely 2D,” but there were several reasons. With established modder Raicuparta officially working for Flat2VR Studios, whose prior work included Trombone Champ’s BaboonVR mod, a path became clear.
“We were a new studio coming out and not every IP wanted to work with us, so we had to prove ourselves. We had a relationship with the original IP holders, and they were very keen on doing something in the VR space. They just didn’t have an avenue or a path to do it.”
So far, I’m told it’s been relatively successful despite launching close to big names like Batman: Arkham Shadow and Metro Awakening. Masher praises Impact Reality’s marketing team for this, confirming that Trombone Champ: Unflattened’s sales were “close to what our projections were for the holiday season.” He also mentions the studio’s long-term plan includes content updates across 2025, such as last week’s new environment.
But what challenges do these adaptations face? As a company founded by VR gaming enthusiasts, relationship building with mainstream publishers is a big one. Building said connections required needing a body of work to show these potential partners. Projects like Cabalistic’s Half Life 2 VR mods and Raicuparta’s Firewatch VR mod helped.
Explaining one of his main duties is to build these relationships, Masher had much to learn going forward.
“I had no traditional gaming relationships, I’m very rooted in the VR world. I’ve been in the VR space for over eight years, so I had to start making those connections… it’s not ever a one meeting thing. You’re dealing with traditional gaming companies that have big IPs that are still important to them. Getting them to trust you with the IP can be difficult, but we’re getting there.”
Just because the leadership wants to play a particular game in VR doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great business decision for Flat2VR Studios.
“There are plenty of games that we could probably go sign tomorrow that may not make a great VR game. That’s where we have to be careful and as VR fans, we know what we want to play. Those are the games that we typically intend to get, but deciding what to prioritize is important.”
Quest is another major challenge due to the standalone headset’s less powerful hardware. However, not every future adaptation necessarily faces this barrier.
“There will be times that we probably won’t go to Quest. We may find a title that is just such a great IP, we’ll want to stay true to it, and there’s going to be no way we’ll be able to bring it to standalone. We may just bring it to Steam and PlayStation VR2.”
Flat2VR Studios would also rather avoid staggering a game launching between different headsets, and Masher acknowledged the uncertainty announcing Trombone Champ: Unflattened’s release date in stages brought. Though the studio was worried about “briefly upsetting some fans,” they had to risk it when Sony wanted to feature Unflattened.
“Sony was great for us. They were happy we went to that platform, and we will continue to support PlayStation VR2 as much as we can.”
Presently, Flat2VR Studios has three confirmed upcoming games: Roboquest VR, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin VR, and FlatOut. I’m told Roboquest and Wrath are aiming to launch this year, while FlatOut is “hopefully on a good path” but less certain to land in 2025.
Henry Stockdale
Given the flatscreen versions of Roboquest and Wrath are already on Steam and PS5 — or in Roboquest’s case, heading to PS5 — will these VR adaptations be released separately? I’m told both titles will launch as separate games, rather than an update or DLC to the flatscreen versions.
“If you have it on the same SKU as an add-on, upgrade or a DLC for the VR version, I think that cheapens what we’re doing… Maybe we will bundle them together down the road, but I think it’s important that we stay separate.”
As for what’s next, Masher didn’t provide any hints on other future games. That said, you can expect more announcements across 2025.
“We have more titles that we will announce later this year. We are going to announce one major title coming this year in March right before GDC. This will be the largest IP that we’ve signed to date, it’s one of the ones we’ve been working towards for a long time.”
Henry Stockdale
