Call of Duty and Dreamworks vets jump on the VR bandwagon

A new company has ambitious plans to tackle multiple forms of media.

The Rogue Initiative, a new development studio planning to work on virtual reality, episodic gaming, TV, and film, announced it launched today. The company includes veterans from notable entertainment companies, including chief executive officer Pete Blumel, who was previously a producer at Call of Duty developer Infinity Ward. Chief production officer Cathy Twigg previously worked at Dreamworks Entertainment, where she was involved in film projects like Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar. The Rogue Initiative plans to create material for Sony PlayStation, Oculus, HTC Vive, Samsung GearVR, Netflix, and Hulu — hitting some of the trendiest and most popular platforms in entertainment.

Cross-promoting is an important tool in the entertainment industry, so a single company working in multiple fields can have an advantage. It plans to announce its first projects soon, which include “a big episodic action tentpole franchise, a psychological thriller, and a stylized animated action adventure.” While gaming, TV, and movies are established media, it’s interesting to see this company put just as much stock in virtual reality, which is still relatively untested in a larger, consumer market. That will change soon, with devices like Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive coming out this year, which could help the VR industry be worth a projected $120 billion.

“I’ve always loved finding ways of bringing Hollywood creatives together with AAA video game developers,” Blumel noted in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Virtual reality is another great catalyst in building that bridge. Our vision at The Rogue Initiative is to create a studio where the most successful storytellers and filmmakers from Hollywood collaborate side-by-side to create and develop new worlds and interactive experiences with the best and brightest from the video game and tech industries. We’re very fortunate to have built some amazing relationships with established filmmakers over the years,which have now culminated into various projects currently in production using Unreal Engine 4. We can’t wait to formally announce these Hollywood collaborations soon.”

The company has launched a seed investment round led by Presence Capital, a virtual reality-focused investor.