Kerestell says that he is from New York but won’t reveal more because Gorilla Tag’s players are so passionate. Smith came up with the idea of Gorilla tag when physical playgrounds were closed down due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Around January 2020, I had the first movement prototypes working. It was only a few weeks later that I came up with the idea to make a tag game. The title was first released on SideQuest and
in 2021. In-app purchases were added late in that same year. It then became available for PC and
VR headsets by December 2022. Gorilla Tag’s revenue has surpassed
since then, just by players playing monkey around in virtual reality. Smith began this amazing journey in August 2022, when he joined forces with David Yee and David Neubelt. Smith was the top Echo Arena player prior to Meta Steam. The idea behind Orion Drift is to create a space station that can hold 200 people and have a variety of different sports, such as soccer, golf, volleyball, etc., that are all “hand-based” in nature. The idea is to blur the lines between spectator and athlete across this gigantic venue, with players creating ad-hoc teams and flowing freely between the different districts.QuestAnd, yes, there will be a zero-g district on this space station too.$100 million in revenue“You’re playing in an arena and there’s an arena next to you, and then there’s another one and another one, and people can go through these courts and see what different games are happening and another game starts and people go over there….and that’s one district,” Smith explained. Smith explains that the DNA of Gorilla Tag is being incorporated into future games. It’s not just a set of interaction, or a certain game mode. It’s about the feeling of sharing a space with others. “
While Smith’s team won’t reveal details yet on how close they are to Echo Arena with their zero-g district in Orion Drift, while we meet at Meta’s headquarters, his excitement for realizing this sprawling landscape overtakes him and he has trouble stopping himself from talking. The connections you can form, the communities you can be a part of. Smith says that this was an experience that I would not have had in a traditional flatscreen video game. The game made me interact with other players in such a way I gained a lot of value. It’s a heavy device that you need to wear on your head. You have to charge it. And you’ll have space to store it. Isn’t sitting on the couch playing on Xbox, PlayStation, or any other console easier? To me, it’s more like you need to arrange time to meet your friends. You have to plan transportation. Where are you going to meet? You’re going to meet in a place like a bar or someone else’s home. Has anyone got kids? Does someone need a babysitter for their child? Do we live in different cities now? It’s impossible to connect in this way. “
“, a comparison to the headsets that we can all use and immediately see one another. This is the comparison. The convenience of VR is incredible. Your friends will be right in front of you when you put on the VR headset. “shut the game downThat’s why Smith believes that VR adoption is inevitable. “
That’s why Smith believes broad VR adoption is inevitable.closed beta“What people get out of the social connections, the togetherness, the feeling that you are present with an actual other human being, even when you’re separated by these extreme distances…that is so powerful, and people want that so deeply that I think the success of VR is inevitable. “