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Big Box VR, the developer behind the battle royale game VR Population: One, announced today that their game will be free to play on March 9. More specifically, it will be free for users to play on Meta Quest 2 and Pro headsets. For those on Steam and the Rift, it will be available for a reduced price of $19.99. Big Box also rolls out new updates to the game at the same time.
Population: A game that launches in 2020 and is acquired by Meta in 2021. Players who purchased the game before it went free-to-play will receive a free content pack called the Original Banana Pack. As the name suggests, this includes some banana themed cosmetics. According to its Meta blog post, the developers hope to “bring POP1 to a wider audience and expand the social multiplayer experience”.
While any game that’s free to play has the potential to spike in numbers, battle royale games seem to be reaching a saturation point. Games like Knockout City and Rumbleverse will be permanently discontinued (both games were free at the time). Meta also shut down one of its most acclaimed VR titles, Echo VR, earlier this month, citing low player numbers at ten thousand.
In addition to the free-to-play mechanics, the March 9 updates include map changes, new gameplay balance, a new single-player mode, and an update to the in-game store.
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