For fans of the lucrative horror franchise, October 23 is acting as the biggest milemarker for Paranormal Activity enthusiasts as it will herald the release of The Ghost Dimension, the latest found footage-styled entry into the genre. But Paramount is hoping to take the brand to an all-new medium – no pun intended – with a virtual reality game based on the low-key horror films.
Set for release at some point in 2016, the VR experience will loom onto all of the market’s major platforms, including Oculus Rift, Valve’s HTC-powered Vive and Sony’s own Project Morpheus. Beast Media Group’s VRWERX announced the news late last week, and here’s the official word from the studio:
“Paranormal Activity is the perfect property for VRWERX. This franchise represents a huge audience that loves visceral, unbridled terror, which we intend to intensify through the incredible immersion that only virtual reality enables. Our goal is for the Paranormal Activity VR video game to not only be the scariest game you’ve ever played, but the scariest experience you’ve ever had!”
With every new medium comes new ways for artists and creative thinkers to explore the parameters of the platform, and virtual reality is no different. Though the majority of software previewed to date has arrived in the form of tech demos, news of major studios such as Beast Media Group supporting the medium is certainly exciting, and there is perhaps no better horror franchise befitting of an immersive experience than Paranormal Activity. We’re hoping that the developers have creative license to diverge from the admittedly flimsy storyline of the series, but whatever the outcome, an exercise in terror is almost a given.
Paranormal Activity will be the first – and hopefully not last – major horror franchise to support the burgeoning market of VR. It’ll launch for Project Morpheus, Vive and the Rift in 2016.
