Record-breaking VR game officially eclipses the 1M units-sold mark in just under a year.
In the lore of Virtual Reality, there’s the industry before Beat Saber and there’s after. As the first truly viral VR game, Beat Saber spawned a host of mainstream attention through Mixed Reality videos on YouTube and Twitch – garnering the top spot in the author’s “Top 25 VR Games” list on Forbes and briefly becoming the best user-rated game of all time on Steam (including 2D/PC titles).
Now, the game is making news all over again by reaching its millionth download, just two weeks under a year since its launch.
For those unfamiliar, Beat Saber follows in the footsteps of Rez, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band in marrying game mechanics with music. But unlike the above, Beat Saber is a rhythm “slasher.” Two differently colored boxes fly toward the user, denoting which hand to slash with, and arrows on the boxes indicate the direction of the slash.
While the first viral video introduced the insider VR community to the game, it was SwanVR’s rendition of the game’s song, “Escape” that truly catapulted Beat Saber into the public eye, reaching over 100M views across syndicated videos.
A quick glance at Beat Saber’s timeline (see bottom of the article) indicates just how much of an impact it has had – and crossing the million install mark in less than a year's time is a feat no other VR game has accomplished.
Mixed Reality videos – 2D video content captured by superimposing users in the virtual environment – produced in MR platform, LIV, have played a huge role in the sustained success of Beat Saber. Several influencers have risen to prominence for their unique styles, and even hardware hacks like the “Darth Maul” version:
The game has been so popular, in fact, that it also birthed a modding community, centered around “Beat Saver,” a platform that lets users post user generated “beat maps” to songs of their choosing, ranging from the Game of Thrones title song to a remix of Eiffel Tower’s, “Blue.”
Monstercat Music Pack, Vol. 1
Starting today, March 14, Beat Games will launch the Monstercat Music Pack, Vol. 1, which will give players a whole new crop of official songs to slash their way through from the electronic music label's catalog.
- "Till It’s Over" - Tristam
- "We Won’t Be Alone" (feat. Laura Brehm) - Feint
- "Boundless" - Aero Chord
- "EPIC" - Tokyo Machine
- "Stronger" (feat. EMEL) - Stonebank
- "Overkill" - RIOT
- "This Time" - Kayzo
- "Emoji VIP" - Pegboard Nerds
- "Rattlesnake" - Rogue
- "Feeling Stronger" (feat. Charlotte Colley) [High Maintenance Remix] - Muzzy
The ten-song pack will retail for $12.99, or $1.99 per individual track. Alongside the release, Monstercat will offer a free month of its Gold Subscription to new subscribers who use the promo code "BEATSABER."
Beat Saber milestone timeline:
2018:
- Jan. 19 – First viral video
- March 4 – Second viral video: Swan in Mixed Reality
- May 1 – Beat Saber official early access release (Steam & Oculus Store) - Best user rated game all time on Steam (including PC titles)
- May 8 – Beat Saber sells 50,000 copies in the first week, becoming fastest-sold VR game.
- May 28 – Beat Saber sells 100,000 copies in 28 days
- Aug. 17 – The first Beat Saber Arcade Tournament (biggest arcade tournament in history: 168 arcades joined in 23 countries)
- Oct. 13 – Wins 'Best Technology' in CEEGA awards
- Oct. 25 – Wins 'Best Game' in Halo Awards
- Nov. 4 – 20 million streams of Beat Saber OST
- Nov. 13 – Nominated for 'Best VR/AR Game' at The Game Awards
- Dec. 1 – Beat Saber is the most downloaded game for PSVR in November 2018
- Dec. 10– Wins "Fan Favorite VR Game of the Year" in the Gamers' Choice Awards
- Dec. 17 – Wins ‘Game of the Year (for Oculus Rift and HTC Vive)’ in Road to VR’s Game of the Year Awards
- Dec. 18 – The Verge: Game of the Year
- Dec. 19 – Wins ‘Best VR Fitness Game of the Year’ by VR Fitness Insider VR Fitness Awards 2018
- Dec. 20 – Nominated for 'VR Game of the Year' in the Steam Awards
- Dec. 27 – Wins ‘Best VR Game’ at the Unity Awards
- Dec. 30 – Forbes: The Top 25 VR Games Of 2018
2019:
- Jan. 2 – Wins Best PC VR Game and Most Active Game in UploadVR's Best Of 2018 Awards
- Jan. 5 – Nominated for 'Best VR/AR Game' at Game Developers Choice Awards 2019
- Feb. 1 - 1 million units sold
- Feb. 13 – Wins Immersive Reality Game of the Year at the DICE Awards
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Note: article has been updated to reflect that Beat Saber has sold 1 million units across all platforms.
