Sonic Boom Dev Sanzaru Games Bought by Facebook

There were some highs in Sega’s previously touted “year of Sonic,” the year Sonic Boom attempted to repair and restore the Sonic name and brand to a wider audience. Most point to the TV series as one such high. But while most point to BigRedButton’s handling of Rise of Lyric as a key component to the initiative’s failure, another developer, Sanzaru Games, got two cracks at bringing Boom to the masses. The first, Shattered Crystal, was equally panned, but Fire and Ice found better footing on the Nintendo 3DS.

On Tuesday, Facebook announced Sanzaru Games would be joining their company, as part of the Oculus VR team:

Sanzaru is a veteran game developer—having shipped titles to multiple platforms in the past—as well as a VR pioneer: They’ve created four titles for the Oculus Platform since 2016, when they were the first developer to partner with the Oculus Studios team. They approach game design with three pillars in mind: great design, beautiful art (including animation and audio), and strong tech. It is this foundation that enabled Sanzaru to build a game as rich as Asgard’s Wrath, and it’s a strong foundation they will continue to build upon as we all push VR forward.

Mentioned above, Asgard’s Wrath, released last year for the Oculus platform, has been critically acclaimed as one of the must-play titles in a VR environment.

Facebook has said Sanzaru will continue to operate as if they remained an independent studio. No new projects from the company were announced as part of the acquisition.

Thanks to AugieD who tipped us on Twitter. Follow us there to receive all of our stories the moment it’s published, and bulletins at once.