A Leeds virtual reality and augmented reality games studio behind Zombieland: Headshot Fever.
XR Games is a Leeds-based games studio that makes virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) games. It has worked with partners and brands including Sony Pictures VR and Rovio Entertainment. Its released games include Zombieland: Headshot Fever, which launched in 2021. It describes itself as an independent games studio and VR developer, and an earlier Yorkshire Post piece pictured a VR Angry Birds game among its work.
In 2022 its founder and chief executive, Bobby Thandi, described the company's aim as investing in its own original game ideas, developing new games and researching VR and AR technology, with the aim of leading the move to VR in the creative industries. That is the company's own framing, from one press article, and we did not read a longer statement of values. Mr Thandi was quoted in 2019 saying that virtual reality is the easiest and most accessible form of gaming ever to come out, and he said he wanted the studio known for working with Hollywood studios.
The studio is in Leeds, and a July 2022 article said it was moving to a new studio in central Leeds later that year. We did not confirm its current address. In March 2022 it also bought the VR game studio Fierce Kaiju. The article is now several years old, so some details may have changed. An earlier November 2019 article said the studio then had 16 staff, planned to hire six more and was to move to premises in the Kirkstall area of Leeds in 2020, so the studio has moved more than once as it has grown.
The same article said the team had grown to over 85 people, roughly tripling since 2021, and that three of its people were shortlisted for the Game Dev Heroes Awards. It did not describe the company's culture, so we have no published detail on working life there. Growth from 16 people in 2019 to over 85 in 2022 shows how fast this small studio has expanded.
VR and AR games need a mix of skills: programmers, 3D artists, animators, designers, sound staff and testers, along with producers and business teams. Leeds is one of the larger games hubs in the north of England, so this is a studio worth watching if you want to work in immersive technology. Check the XR Games website for current roles, and note the sources are from 2019 and 2022.
Website: www.xr-games.com
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