VR pioneer Edward Saatchi: VR films aren't the future of storytelling

Simply put, he thinks viewers respond more to actual characters rather than archaic game-engine updates. Saatchi recruited designers from some of his favorite interactive games, including people who've worked on the character Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite, Ellie in The Last of Us and the canceled but infamously ambitious Steven Spielberg project LMNO. He also brought on Doug Church as a consultant, a designer who worked on LMNO and is well known for developing groundbreaking games like System Shock. "From the very beginning, I think what set us apart in the studio was that the people leading it all loved video games and narrative games," Saatchi said. "I think a lot of VR studios out there often were led by people who didn't [love games]. I've been playing narrative games since I was five ... When we founded Story Studio, it was the intersection of immersive theater, narrative games and cinema.... I haven't had as many friends who have a good sense of immersive games, like Gone Home, Tacoma and Virginia."