nDreams has been acquired in a 拢90 million deal which could be a landmark for the virtual reality games industry.
Described as the world鈥檚 biggest developer and publisher of VR games, nDreams has more than a decade of VR development experience behind it and is now working with platforms such as Meta Quest 3 and PlayStation VR2.聽
Based in Farnborough, Hampshire with more than 250+ employees, recent releases include the chart-topping PowerWash Simulator VR – which it published as a third party – and internally developed Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord.
Little Cities (pictured) is another example of its foray into third-party publishing.聽 nDreams even made its own debut acquisition, with VR/AR experts Near Light joining in December 2022.听听
Aonic, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, has now completed the acquisition of nDreams after investing an initial $35m in the firm in March 2022 for a minority stake. The group owns gaming companies with diverse specialisms, including the likes of Warren Spector鈥檚 OtherSide Entertainment, Milky Tea, Exmox and TutoTOONS.
nDreams co-founders Patrick and Tamsin O鈥橪uanaigh (chief executive officer and chief people officer respectively) will remain in their positions alongside the rest of the company鈥檚 executive team.聽
鈥淲e set up nDreams in 2006, pivoted to focus exclusively on VR games in 2013, and we鈥檙e proud of everything we鈥檝e achieved as an independent company,鈥� said O鈥橪uanaigh. 鈥淎fter 18 months of working together, we鈥檙e confident we鈥檝e found the right partner in Aonic.聽
鈥淭his is the right moment to welcome their support to strengthen our position even further, and seize this critical moment for VR and MR.鈥澛�
Paul Schempp, CEO of Aonic, added: 鈥渘Dreams has done an unparalleled job bringing some of the biggest VR titles to market, and it was a natural fit for us to welcome them to the Aonic family and provide our studios with the best team when it comes to the VR/MR gaming space.
鈥淭his acquisition is yet another example of Aonic鈥檚 commitment to championing mid-sized studios and creating an environment where teams can create fantastic games.鈥�