Job Simulator: The 2050 archives is a virtual reality simulation video game Source: Owlchemy Labs

It's the year 2050, and robots have replaced all human jobs. Yet out of sheer benevolence, the machines have provided humans with some amusement: A simulation of what having a job used to look like. Welcome to Job Simulator: The 2050 Archives, a game by Google's Owlchemy Labs. The virtual reality (VR) game has amassed a cult following. it allows players to experience what it was like to hold a 9 to 5 job, and relive the glory days of working in an office. The game has a comedic bent, as robots who have imagined the simulation often misinterpret facets of office life for humans. Since its founding about seven years ago, Owlchemy Labs has gone on to release several games. It first designed mobile and PC games, before transitioning to VR. In 2017, the company was acquired by Google, where Owlchemy continued to put a unique spin on its offerings in a gaming world dominated by the wildly popular battle royale format. "In video games in particular, the amount of companies that build...funny games by nature is actually kind of tiny," CEO Devin Reimer told CNBC in a recent interview. "A lot of it has to do with the size of the market [and] what genres of game have been popular."

The player experience

Job Simulator, which crossed $3 million in sales last year and retails for $29.99, was the top-downloaded game on the Playstation store in both 2016 and 2017. Owlchemy's games are available on HTC Vive, Oculus and Playstation VR. In the virtual environment, there are many factors to consider in making sure players feel motivated to continue playing the game. In Job Simulator, rather than moving a player around the environment, players are fixed until they decided to move around themselves. Reimer and his team came up with the format through trial and error. They discovered that people were pretty task oriented, and actually preferred to perform tasks one after another, rather than indulging in the traditional gaming experience (i.e. shooting at targets, operating a vehicle or role-playing). Traditionally, games might have a first task to accomplish followed by a second in quick succession. In Job Simulator, players are encourage to explore a bit more by creating breaks natural breaks. For example, a kitchen simulation involves order tickets getting pulled for a next job, which allows players some down time they can use to explore the game.

Job Simulator: The 2050 archives is a virtual reality simulation video game Source: Owlchemy Labs