HTC invests $5 million in VR studio from Pixar and Lucasfilm veterans

HTC sees a VR developer that it likes.

Steel Wool Studios, a virtual reality studio made up of veterans from Pixar, LucasFilm, and Telltale Games, announced today that it has received $5 million in Series A funding from HTC. Steel Wool will use the funds to support its game, simulation, and narrative VR experiences. HTC is the company behind the Vive, one of most prominent VR headsets. Market watchers are predicting that VR could generate $40 billion in revenues by 2020, but the sector can only grow if consumers have access to quality games, films, and other experiences.

The studio’s first VR games is Quar: Battle for Gate 18, which came out in April along with the HTC Vive’s launch. The interactive simulation Mars Odyssey is Steel Wool’s next project. It will come out on Steam on September 9 and has players fixing the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers while exploring the red planet.

“The Steel Wool Studios team carries an impressive pedigree of creative talent that has already proven its ability to build cutting-edge content for the nascent VR category,” said HTC Corporation CEO Cher Wang in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Taking a look at Mars Odyssey and Steel Wool’s other projects under development, it’s immediately clear that this studio will drive VR adoption with great content that balances amazing visual fidelity with strong storytelling.”