Players can also build custom virtual spaces that they and others can use.ĬEO Nick Fajt said in an interview with Freethink that Rec Room was designed to promote direct human connection. Play is a vehicle for connecting with others. While there are competitive games, like paintball, laser tag, and dodgeball, it’s more in the vein of game nights with friends than competitive esports tournaments. “Most social apps today are actually very isolating,” Fajt said. “You’re interacting with an algorithmic feed, not another human. That’s been our goal since day one and it remains our goal today.” Why Cross-Platform Connection Matters We wanted to build a place where people could come together to meet new people and create new memories.
When VR headset sales initially failed to live up to industry expectations, Rec Room expanded from being a VR-exclusive platform to PC, PlayStation, iOS, and most recently Xbox. “We want Rec Room to be the most radically cross-platform social app in existence,” Fajt said. “At the end of the day, Rec Room is trying to connect people, not devices.” As a result, users in VR headsets can now play in real time with those on consoles and iPhones, or mix it up themselves. Rec Room saw a surge in growth during the pandemic, when people stuck at home turned to virtual world for connection. “The pandemic accelerated trends we’d been seeing for several years,” Fajt told The Verge.įajt noted that teenagers aged 13 to 16 comprise Rec Room’s primary users - and points to these players as a consistent core audience even once restrictions lift. “A lot of people are looking for a digital third place that’s distinct from home and school or work where they can meet up with friends, hang out, explore, and be creative. People need a space like this.” The Not-so-Secret Sauce: Creators I think that’s been true whether teenagers were going to school physically or on Zoom. Like Minecraft and Roblox before it, Rec Room has made building a core activity on the platform. Any user can build their own environments and games without needing to learn a complex programming language. “In Rec Room, anyone can be a creator,” Fajt said.
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“You don’t need to know how to code, you don’t need to know how to 3D model, you don’t need to use a separate app or a game engine. Our tools live inside of the app and you can build together with your friends in real-time.” If you can play Rec Room, you can build a room in Rec Room. Tipatat Chennavasin, general partner of the Venture Reality Fund and an early investor in Rec Room, told Freethink in an interview that the app has remained popular across platforms because of this simple, in-app building approach. The focus on community seems to be paying off 2M players have already created content on the platform - over 13% of all Rec Room players.
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