IRL Studios introduced that Fitness center Class, its widespread VR basketball recreation on Meta Quest App Lab, has raised $8 million in a seed spherical led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from Y Combinator.
Different members embody Founders Inc., Todd and Rahul’s Angel Fund, Balaji Srinivasan, Zaza Pachulia, and quite a few different angel buyers.
Named in Highway to VR’s high 20 free video games on Quest, Fitness center Class helps you to shoot hoops and dunk on buddies such as you in all probability can’t on a bodily courtroom.
The free early entry model is extremely rated on App Lab for good motive, partly due to it’s physics-based gameplay and full-body kinematics, however principally as a result of it gives one of the crucial reasonable basketball enjoying experiences that permits you to go toe-to-toe with as much as eight different on-line gamers. Fitness center Class has additionally claimed the quantity two spot on Meta Quest App Lab, garnering a [4.9/5] consumer score from greater than 14,000 opinions.
The studio hasn’t specified exactly what it plans to do with the funding, though the staff’s mission consists of constructing a digital sports activities ecosystem “indistinguishable from what you see IRL. One which delivers on deep wants for friendship, id, leisure, creation, health, trend, and even competing to turn out to be a celebrity,” its Y Combinator profile reads.
“Fitness center Class is greater than a recreation, it’s a digital sport.” mentioned Paul Katsen, studio co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Fitness center Class. “It helps you to dunk like a professional, turn out to be a basketball star, watch, compete, cheer, and become involved in the entire expertise of the game. Similar to with actual sports activities, we consider digital sports activities will see thriving international communities, leagues, leisure and occasions, trend, commerce, health, and extra.”
“We’re satisfied that video games, digital worlds and digital sports activities would be the new social networks,” mentioned Andrew Chen, accomplice at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). “Fitness center Class indicators the daybreak of digital sports activities. It has the traction, and has the best staff behind it to comprehend the true potential of social VR. We’re robust believers within the imaginative and prescient and the staff who’ve already confirmed Fitness center Class has a large viewers and alternative.”
Fitness center Class is slated to of the official Quest Retailer someday in fall 2022.
