Facebook Acquires Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Developer Sanzaru Games

David Gill February 26, 2020 5:13 PM EST

Months after acquiring Beat Saber developer Beat Games, Facebook has announced they've purchased Sanzaru Games.

In a new blog post from Oculus, it’s been confirmed that Facebook has acquired developer Sanzaru Games.

Due to Facebook acquiring the developer, a majority of the studio has moved onto developing for Oculus VR headsets. Sanzaru has previously developed Oculus games such as Asgard’s Wrath, Ripcoil, VR Sports Challenge, and MARVEL Powers United VR. Additionally, the blog post states that Sanzaru will continue to be independently-operated but they’ll have resources provided by Facebook and Oculus Studios. This acquisition comes several months after Facebook purchased Beat Saber developer Beat Games back in November.

“Sanzaru is a veteran game developer—having shipped titles to multiple platforms in the past—as well as a VR pioneer: They’ve created four titles for the Oculus Platform since 2016, when they were the first developer to partner with the Oculus Studios team,” says Mike Verdu, Oculus’ Director of Content. “They approach game design with three pillars in mind: great design, beautiful art (including animation and audio), and strong tech. It is this foundation that enabled Sanzaru to build a game as rich as Asgard’s Wrath, and it’s a strong foundation they will continue to build upon as we all push VR forward.”

Sanzaru was founded in 2007 and they have three offices across California and Ontario. In addition to developing VR titles, Sanzaru also developed games like Secret Agent Clank for the PSP, The Sly Collection on the PlayStation 3 and PSP, and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for the PS3 and PSP. Their first Oculus game was Ripcoil which launched in 2016.

“We’re exploring many ways to accelerate VR, and 2020 is going to be an incredible year for VR game launches and announcements,” continues Verdu. “We are thrilled to have Sanzaru joining our team. This is just one of the many amazing VR announcements we have in store this year.”