Unveiling the Future of VR: Owlchemy Labs’ Dimensional Double Shift
Image by Owlchemy Labs/Google.
Owlchemy Labs has done it once more. The studio behind Job Simulator and Commute Simulator—two games that played a pivotal role in introducing players to virtual reality—is not content to rest on its past achievements. With its latest multidimensional diner/storage simulator Dimensional Double Shift, the company is once again pushing the boundaries with innovative methods to create VR experiences.
However, this time, its explorations are not merely technologically groundbreaking or gameplay-driven. In 2024, Owlchemy Labs released Dimensional Double Shift as a free-to-play beta, a first for the company that previously offered its past titles as standalone products. It is also their inaugural multiplayer game, joining the ranks of popular titles such as Gorilla Tag and VR Chat. While it may be slightly late to the multiplayer scene, Owlchemy Labs’ “chief executive owl” Andrew Eiche shared with Game Developer during a discussion at DICE 2025 that the game is part of the studio’s strategy to adapt to the rapidly evolving VR landscape.
It’s always important to check in where major studios perceive the next opportunities are—and in our discussion, Eiche was eager to elaborate on how the studio is keeping pace with new trends like social multiplayer without compromising quality along the way.
VR gamers want to socialize with their friends
As Gorilla Tag has indicated, a growing number of VR users are surprisingly younger, and they are not necessarily interested in the same types of games that dominated the early days of the HTC Vive and Oculus Quest (now known as Meta Quest). As discussed repeatedly in conversations about Roblox and other games popular among young audiences, the new generation of gamers is far more inclined towards “social experiences” than their predecessors.
However, that’s a clinical (and perhaps unsettling) way of putting it. Eiche asserts that when Owlchemy communicates with gamers, they express the sentiment more straightforwardly. “They’re not even asking ‘can you add multiplayer?’ It’s more like, ‘why can’t I play with my friends?'”
Image by Owlchemy Labs/Google.
Image by Owlchemy Labs/Google.
The subtle difference is that the essential question represents a request for a new feature, whereas the latter suggests that “playing with my friends” has become a standard expectation. Thus, when Owlchemy commenced development on Dimensional Double Shift, facilitating group play for gamers with their friends was the top priority.
This objective became more challenging when considering the economics of VR. Owlchemy’s previous premium games typically cost $20, but if four players wish to run their multidimensional diner/storage, the game’s cost could hit around $80. “Consumers are mindful of where they spend their money,” he stated. “So for us, it became essential to ensure that if we wanted to create a multiplayer game, we had to eliminate the friction of playing together.”
Meanwhile, Owlchemy noticed that the Meta Quest Store—currently the leading platform in the VR market—was transitioning towards a more “App Store”-like algorithmic approach that favored free-to-play games with in-app purchases. Owlchemy had no prior experience with free-to-play models, making it challenging to commit to an extended development cycle without a clear monetization strategy. Therefore, they opted to launch in beta form.
“Our responsibility is to ensure it doesn’t veer into the dark side of [monetization],” he remarked, acknowledging how some games rely on player addiction to drive spending and keep them engaged (a concern many developers are addressing lately).
The beta release has achieved more for Owlchemy than just aiding them in monetization; it has also provided insights on where they should focus their game development efforts. As they anticipated, Dimensional Double Shift players indeed prefer laid-back sci-fi diner/storage antics over fierce competition (often creating their own improvised minigames). They also enjoy having game modes (referred to as “shifts”) that provide some competition, but it’s not the focal point of the game.
What surprised them? After the launch, they did not expect players would wish to engage with anyone other than people they already knew. Yet, they quickly received feedback indicating that gamers actually desired matchmaking options. They were eager to meet new people and experience omnidimensional life with new friends.
VR multiplayer reshapes game development
Developers are likely to be aware that transitioning from single-player to multiplayer development introduces a whole range of challenges. Eiche mentioned that Owlchemy needed to make significant adjustments to its existing framework and “strip away” all their previous technological choices to make it conducive to multiplayer.
The major breakthrough, he noted, occurred in terms of player proximity. The “secret” to VR multiplayer is about…
The level at which players’ “spheres”—the personal spaces surrounding their avatars—are not allowed to intersect is pivotal. Should they overlap, it could be extremely disorienting or, at worst, a cause for harassment. Eiche mentioned that Owlchemy dedicated three years diligently addressing this matter. In a game that revolves around collaborating closely in a diner/storage setting, it’s certainly beneficial not to require players to navigate away from each other’s bubbles.
A range of intricate features, he explained, include fluid physics and hand-tracking data. Ongoing updates to hand-tracking functionalities enable players to communicate more effectively in VR—however, they also introduce countless data points that need to be synchronized across potentially four machines.
Image by Owlchemy Labs/Google.
Image by Owlchemy Labs/Google.
He remarked that fluid physics almost didn’t make it into the game. The team initially faced the reality that they believed they wouldn’t be able to implement this feature, despite it being a standard component of Cosmonious High, Job Simulator, and Vacation Simulator. Still, he stated that in Owlchemy’s history, “we can’t do that” usually transforms into more of a challenge than a limitation.
“We confidently say we can’t do something like ‘we can’t create sandwiches and pick them up. They need to be produced on a sandwich maker,'” he explained. “Then a developer gets an inspired look in their eye, and they go all out, declaring, ‘I’m going to make this happen. Damn it. We’re going to make fluids work.’”
Aspects like fluids (and sandwiches) often find their way into Owlchemy Games out of “defiance,” Eiche noted.
Where is VR headed?
2024 was a challenging year for the virtual reality market. Although Camouflaj’s Batman Arkham Shadow stood out as a significant triumph during the holiday season, reports suggest that Meta Quest sales dwindled during what should have been the peak month for the headset.
Meanwhile, Meta has indicated that it is evaluating the billions of dollars its Reality Labs division has expended, and they laid off Reality Labs employees in June of last year. While the Meta quest is not the only headset available, it is certainly the most popular, and slowing sales could be concerning news for VR developers.
Eiche said he remains unfazed. Despite being owned by Meta rival Google (which is currently rolling out Android XR as its own answer to Meta, Valve, and Sony Interactive Entertainment’s VR platforms), Owlchemy has retained its status as a multiplatform studio, focusing on broad releases instead of promoting parental company hardware. He expressed excitement about the potential of Android XR, although Owlchemy’s PR representative emphasized that he was speaking solely as the head of the VR studio and not as a Google employee.
He believes some VR companies have slightly lost sight of what VR is meant to be “for.” “People don’t typically enjoy technology,” he claimed, a surprisingly bold statement considering how technology pervades daily life. “But that’s fine. It’s merely a necessary tool they utilize—like a dishwasher—as part of being an adult.”
“The question our industry must answer is ‘why is this so valuable that it’s worth putting something heavy and somewhat isolating [on your head?]'”
That’s why he isn’t fond of the idea of “general computing” (using VR for everyday desktop tasks like spreadsheets and email) as a primary driver for VR—at least not yet. “Fully immersive experiences are really the answer to that,” he stated, referring to applications that are uniquely suited to VR. He believes VR users might be open to those types of tasks—but they should serve as brief intermissions from fully immersive VR experiences, not as inferior versions of what users accomplish outside of their headsets.
VR studios have been significantly hit hard by the massive industry layoffs of 2023-2025, with some developers indicating that it is an “uncertain year” for the field. Eiche would not be a great CEO owl if he told us that he believes the sky is falling on VR, but it is certainly fair to say the industry is facing challenges—the magnitude of them is still being determined.
If Dimensional Double Shift is a valid reference point, there remains ample opportunity for developers to find solid ground in this experimental field—even if you sometimes need a touch of “defiance” to locate it.