Industry Video game Website www.ndreams.com Founder Patrick O'Luanaigh | Key people Patrick O'Luanaigh Headquarters Farnborough Type of business Video Game Developer | |
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Products Xi
PlayStation Home content
Facebook games/apps Founded August 2006, Farnborough, United Kingdom Video games The Assembly, Xi, Venus Redemption, Lewis Hamilton: Secret Life Profiles | ||
nDreams, Ltd. is a company that develops and publishes video games. It is located in Farnborough, Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in August 2006 by former SCi and Eidos creative director, Patrick O'Luanaigh. Since formation, the developer has worked on numerous projects for different video game platforms, most notably PlayStation Home, the virtual world on Sony's PlayStation 3 console, where they grew to become one of the leading publishers. From late 2013 nDreams began working on content for virtual reality (VR) headsets, such as Sony's Project Morpheus, Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR. They are developing VR games for these including Gunner and The Assembly, along with non-gaming VR experiences such as Perfect Beach. nDreams has stated that they are now entirely focused on developing content for virtual reality.
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Virtual reality
Since 2013, nDreams has focused on developing content for virtual reality headsets.
The first game released by nDreams for virtual reality was the tech demo SkyDIEving, which launched in 2013. This saw players freefalling through the sky until they inevitably crashed to their doom on the ground. Patrick O'Luanaigh stated that nDreams had seen "fantastic" reaction to SkyDIEving since it was released in 2013 and the demo received many plaudits.
In June 2014 at the E3 video game show nDreams announced The Assembly, which is planned for release on the Oculus Rift and Sony Project Morpheus headsets. The Assembly is an adventure game where you uncover the morally dubious secrets of an unknown scientific organisation from the perspective of two different characters.
Following the announcement of the Samsung Gear VR headset in September 2014, nDreams announced two titles that would be released for the headset. Gunner is a video game where the player wields a gun turret in outer space, shooting down the incoming enemy spacecraft. Perfect Beach is a relaxation experience where users sit on a tropical beach and take in vistas or listen to the meditation track. A demo for Gunner released in January 2015 on the Oculus Home store for the Samsung Gear VR headset. Full products of both Gunner and Perfect Beach are due to release in early 2015.
In December 2014 nDreams announced a new partnership with VR filmmakers Virtual View Productions. The partnership would allow them to explore the crossover between VR video games and movies.
nDreams has previously stated they also have other products in development for virtual reality headsets. They have also stated they are focused entirely on developing content for VR devices.
VRFocus.com
In early 2014, nDreams launched a consumer website focused on virtual reality called VRFocus. This is run on an independent basis and was founded by editor-in-chief, Kevin Joyce.
In February 2016, VRFocus launched VRTV, a fortnightly web show presented by Zeena Al-Obaidi.
PlayStation Home
nDreams claimed to be one of the world's leading independent developers and publishers in PlayStation Home, the virtual world on Sony'sPlayStation 3 console. The company created numerous games, virtual spaces and items for the platform between 2009 and 2014.
The first project created by nDreams for PlayStation Home was the world's first console-based and virtual world-based alternate reality game, Xi. Xi was released on March 23, 2009 and lasted a total of 12 weeks, taking place within PlayStation Home, across the web and in the real world.
nDreams next project for Home was a personal space called "The Pirate Galleon Apartment" which also released in 2009. This was the European Home's first personal space to have a mini-game with prizes. In 2010, nDreams released another personal space called "Musicality". In this space users could play a multiplayer music game.
In 2011, nDreams released a new game space called "Aurora" where PlayStation Home users can visit and play various mini games, receive rewards and hang out with fellow users. Aurora has had over 18 million visits from 1.8 million unique players, making it nDreams' most successful project in PlayStation Home.
nDreams also created numerous virtual items for use on a player's avatar as well as many more spaces.
PlayStation Home closed 31 March 2015. At the time the closure was announced nDreams stated they would continue to release additional content ahead of the closure of the platform. On reflection of PlayStation Home's success, CEO Patrick O'Luanaigh stated that PlayStation Home "was a commercial success" for nDreams.
Other projects
In early 2008, nDreams completed a short piece of work on a project called iStories. It is a PC educational tool that allows users to create linear or interactive stories by piecing together images, sound and text.
Funding
In January 2015, nDreams announced a $2.75 million investment from Mercia Technologies. This investment is planned to allow the studio to expand and invest in research and development of virtual reality games. One of Mercia's leaders, former Sega CEO Mike Hayes, joined the nDreams board of directors in 2014.