What you need to know

  • During Oculus Connect 6, Cy Wise and Alex Schwartz announced funding for their new XR company called Absurd:Joy.
  • Cy and Alex started Owlchemy Labs, and left when it was acquired by Google in May 2017
  • Absurd:Joy has raised $4.4m to create new virtual and augmented experiences, with a ton of industry support.

You could be forgiven for not knowing the names Cy Wise or Alex Schwartz if you're not deeply familiar with the VR industry, but even if you've never touched a headset before you have definitely seen some of the things their company Owlchemy Labs has created. Job Simulator was the original VR darling, the first VR game hundreds of Twitch streamers used to show off how silly and amazing it is inside the headset. That same team made Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-Ality shortly after, which captured an entirely different audience by applying the same love of exploration and experimentation that made Job Simulator great in the weird and wonderful world of Rick and Morty.

It wasn't a huge surprise when such a creative and capable team was acquired by Google in 2017, but it was a little surprising to see Cy and Alex depart Owlchemy Labs a year later. In fact, until today, it's been a little unclear what exactly these two have been up to. But an announcement during Oculus Connect 6 cleared that right up. Cy and Alex have teamed up with Andy Moore of Fantastic Contraption VR fame to start Absurd:Joy, a new XR company focused on creating the future.

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Cy has detailed what exactly this means in the company's first blog post, which is worth taking a deeper look at if you're excited by following luminaries of the VR industry. But if you want the short version, this company is going to make some really cool shit soon and you should probably keep an eye out if you like fun things in VR/AR.