Apple Vision Pro’s first multiplayer spatial game is confirmed — Game Room will bring five board games to the headset, with the app launching on February 2 as part of the Apple Arcade subscription service.
Developed by Resolution Games, Game Room takes you into a dedicated virtual reality space where you can play five games — chess, solitaire, hearts, yacht, and Sea Battle. These games can be controlled with your eyes, hands, and voice in Vision Pro, so you’ll be able to pick up chess pieces or individual cards when playing.
Game Room also offers multiplayer gaming on Apple’s headset, supporting up to four players, but these games can also be played with iPhone and iPad users, too. A player can reach out to someone through FaceTime or a Game Center invite in order to start a multiplayer game. If you’d rather play on your own, Game Room offers the ability to play against CPU opponents.
Alongside What the Golf? and Super Fruit Ninja, Game Room will offer Vision Pro users the ability to play dedicated spatial games on the platform when they all launch on February 2.
A promising start? iMore’s take
I’ve spoken before about playing multiplayer games in VR. When I played Star Trek: Bridge Crew with friends (a virtual reality game where you and other players can take control of a starship) I couldn’t stop laughing at the disasters we couldn’t prevent. The same kind of fun could hopefully by found with Game Room on Vision Pro. Game Room won't be the same hi-octane experience as Star Trek, but playing Sea Battle could bring out the competitive streak between friends and family.
This does make me wonder if titles like Star Trek: Bridge Crew and other VR games could come to Vision Pro in the coming months.
Take Half-Life Alyx — an immersive first-person virtual reality game set in a dystopian alternate Europe. You progress through the game shooting down enemies while using a ‘Gravity Glove’ to manipulate objects to solve puzzles. Games like this could be perfect for Vision Pro. Half-Life Alyx would only need some small adjustments to work with hand gestures, though the game currently requires physical controls on other virtual reality headsets. It’s an exciting prospect.
The pieces are all there from a technical standpoint for games like Half-Life Alyx to come to Vision Pro, and it may be a simple case of seeing if this comes true in the coming months. For now, though, Game Room looks to scratch a basic itch for multiplayer gaming, and I’m excited to give it a try when I get my hands on Vision Pro.
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