Rovio, EA, and DICE vets form new VR studio, Fast Travel Games

Industry veterans from Rovio, EA, and DICE have banded together to form new virtual reality studio, Fast Travel Games. 

The nascent Stockholm-based developer, which has already closed an initial seed funding round from top Nordic investors, is looking to create "narratively rich" virtual worlds that encourage exploration and social gameplay. 

"We feel that VR offers limitless possibilities, and that its inherent qualities make it perfectly suited for storytelling and socially rich experiences," said Oskar Burman, Fast Travel CEO and co-founder.

"Our games will focus strongly on narratively rich worlds full of possibilities for exploration and social gameplay, where players can cooperate, share worlds and experiences, and play together."

Before co-founding Fast Travel, Burman oversaw the development of Angry Birds 2 as the head of Rovio's 40-strong Stockholm studio.

Working alongside him will be CTO Kristoffer Benjaminsson, who served as senior development director at EA's Frostbite Labs, and creative director Erik Odeldahl, who worked at EA DICE as the design director behind Mirror's Edge Catalyst.

Fast Travel will work alongside a group of advisors that includes Mojang's production director, Daniel Kaplan; Avalanche Studio's founder and CCO, Christofer Sundberg; Paradox Interactive's COO, Susana Meza Graham; and Peter Zetterberg, director on the Microsoft Minecraft team.

More details about the studio and its slate of projects will be announced in the months ahead.