Taiwanese hardware manufacturer, Acer; is to take 66.7% of the StarVR Corporation – the joint venture with Sweden’s Starbreeze Studios for marketing and sales of the StarVR Virtual Reality (VR) headset. Under the new agreement, Acer will inject USD 5 million into the joint venture and increase its interest to 66.7%. Starbreeze will be relieved from its remaining capital commitment of USD 7.5 million and its interest will be 33.3%.
The joint venture, originally announced 25 June 2016, was created with a capitalisation plan of up to $25 million to be shared equally between Starbreeze and Acer through capital injections on a set schedule.To date, a total of $10 million has been injected into the company in equal amounts by the two parties. Under the new arrangement, Acer will provide a capital injection of $5 million into the joint venture. No further capital injections have been agreed, but the parties are proceeding in their support of the joint venture. As majority owner, Acer will be able to facilitate future financing for StarVR Corporation should further capital needs arise.
Starbreeze continues to hold StarVR-related intellectual property rights, including patents and trademarks related to InfinitEye, StarVR (headset), ePawn and the StarVR SDK (Software Development Kit). Acer continues to hold patents related to electrical engineering, mechanical design and ergonomics that are used in the headset. R&D and reference design for the StarVR headset will also be carried out by Starbreeze and Acer going forward.
Focus On Core Business - Games
Starbreeze CEO, Bo Andersson Klint said, “Starbreeze remains fully dedicated to the field of VR where we see great potential in the development of location-based VR that gives users access to premium VR experiences. We have pushed design and technical innovation to fruition in our StarVR collaboration with Acer.
“Starbreeze will continue to push innovation in the headset and focus on its core business – content. Our games and related premium VR experiences will primarily use the StarVR headset for location-based VR centers and we are eager to continue contributing to the success of StarVR”.
Underlining Acer’s Commitment To VR
Acer Chairman and CEO, Jason Chen said “VR is one of Acer’s key focus areas, as we continue to make huge strides across hardware, software and content development to unlock its potential. The increase of Acer’s stake in StarVR underlines our commitment to the industry, and we look forward to continuing to deliver best-in-class VR experiences through our successful partnership with Starbreeze and ongoing technological innovation,”