Mercia portfolio company launches first VR game

(ShareCast News) - Investment company Mercia Technologies announced on Thursday that one of its portfolio companies, nDreams, has successfully launched its first major virtual reality game, The Assembly.The AIM-traded firm said the game is currently available for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, with a PlayStation VR version due to launch later this year.It said nDreams set out to make The Assembly the "most compelling" interactive story game available in VR to date, combining realistic graphics with life-like positional audio and an intuitive in-game user interface.The game has been in development for more than two years, and its launch follows the announcement at Google's I/O event in May that nDreams had been appointed as one of the first developers to make apps and experiences for Daydream - Google's platform for high-performance mobile VR - with two launch titles currently in development."The launch of The Assembly is the culmination of more than two years' hard work and it's great to see our efforts bearing fruit," said nDreams CEO and founder Patrick O'Luanaigh/"We've been overwhelmed by the reactions describing The Assembly as potentially the 'breakthrough game' for virtual reality, and we intend to keep building our position at the forefront of the virtual reality industry with the PlayStation launch later this year, as well as our other current development projects, such as for Google."Mercia CEO Dr Mark Payton said nDreams was continuing to make significant progress in its ambition to lead the way in virtual reality content and experiences with the launch."We are delighted that this launch has gone well and are excited to continue to support nDreams as it achieves its full potential."Our strategy is to provide both funding and support through our experienced digital and digital entertainment investment team."We have worked with nDreams in this way since 2013, helping it to build its virtual reality capabilities, and believe that this approach will ensure our all of our direct investments, including nDreams, continue to flourish and deliver increasing value for our shareholders," Payton added.Mercia has invested a total of £3.75m to date, led by Mercia's investment director and former SEGA CEO for Europe and the Americas, Mike Hayes.The company's first involvement with nDreams was in 2013, and various funding rounds have brought its direct shareholding to 40%.