Vinci Games, the studio behind in style VR basketball recreation Blacktop Hoops, has raised $5.1 million in a seed funding spherical.
The spherical was led by Makers Fund, with participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Pioneer Fund, Anorak Ventures, BonAngels, and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. Vinci Games was beforehand supported by Y Combinator, and in addition efficiently accomplished a Kickstarter campaign in September 2022 to the tune of $60,000.
The studio says the brand new funds will probably be used to develop Blacktop Hoops, which is at present out there by Quest’s App Lab distribution channel for Quest 2, and on Steam for PC VR headsets.
First launched in April 2022 in alpha, Blacktop Hoops now consists of quite a lot of on-line multiplayer modes, together with 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 matches.
The streetball-inspired recreation, which has kicked off its open beta at this time, at present has a [4.9/5] star ranking from round 9,000 customers on App Lab, and a ‘Very Positive’ general consumer ranking from round 500 on Steam.
The open beta introduces to the sport its first set of DLC, referred to as the ‘Rising Legends Pack’, bringing 5 new AI bosses impressed by real-world streetball legends.
Founded by Oculus veteran Nathaniel Ventura and Maciej Szcześnik, former lead recreation designer of The Witcher sequence at CD Projekt Red, Blacktop Hoops is claimed to characteristic intuitive dribbling, dunking, and taking pictures basketball mechanics designed for VR.
“We’re excited to build the next generation of competitive sports in virtual reality,” stated Ventura, Vinci Games CEO. “This round of funding helps us grow our team and build new groundbreaking features and content pushing the boundaries of VR. Blacktop Hoops has been designed from the ground up to be easily accessible for casual players with a high skill cap for competitive players; it’s extremely easy to pick up but difficult to master.”
During its time in Y Combinator, Vinci Games says it hope to construct “Electronic Arts for VR sports games,” and that beginning with Blacktop Hoops, it’s specializing in the “next-generation of arcade sports games for all platforms.”