Virtual reality title Gorilla Tag is making waves once again by permanently introducing a feature that allows players to create their own levels. This new addition, known as ‘Monke Blocks’, lets friends team up, build their imaginative worlds, and dive into the fun of exploring these custom settings. Meanwhile, exciting news from the developers of the emerging social VR game, Digigods, reveals they’ve secured a whopping $2.6 million investment. Clearly, user-generated content is the driving force behind the success of social VR games.
When you think of popular social VR games like VRChat, Rec Room, Roblox, and Horizon Worlds, they all have one thing in common: they thrive on user-generated content. It seems players who construct virtual landscapes together are bound to stick together.
On the surface, Gorilla Tag might appear as a classic multiplayer game, but there’s more to it. Its flexible multiplayer setup, which allows players to move seamlessly from one lobby to another, coupled with its relaxed rules, has transformed it into a social hangout as much as a game.
With ‘Monke Blocks’ now a staple of Gorilla Tag, the game delves deeper into social VR, offering players the tools to craft and play within their unique creations.
This block-building feature allows players to connect pieces to form new levels. While some remain life-sized and build, others shrink down to explore the work-in-progress just as they would in a typical Gorilla Tag session.
To enhance and monetize this feature, players can buy themed block sets with the game’s premium currency, ‘Shiny Rocks’. The inaugural set features a medieval castle theme, available for 6,000 Shiny Rocks, roughly equivalent to $30.
This approach to ‘build and play’ not only centers around user-generated content but has become a fundamental element of both respected and emerging social VR games.
Following in these footsteps, Another Axiom, the studio behind Gorilla Tag, is planning their next venture, Orion Drift. This game will offer players a vast playground with the freedom to create mini-games and set their own rules.
Earlier this year, we spotlighted Yeeps, which boasted 360,000 monthly active users with its focus on user-generated content. Now, Squido Studio, the developers of Digigods, has caught investor attention, landing a $3 million seed investment led by Triptyq Capital and a lineup of other notable contributors, as reported by VentureBeat.
Launched in April 2024, Digigods is off to a promising start. In less than a year, it has attracted 100,000 unique players, garnered impressive reviews averaging 4.8 out of 5 stars, and is still in Early Access. Many expect rapid growth as it inches closer to a full launch.
While user-generated content is a shared success factor across social VR games, there’s a notable shift in gameplay approach depending on the era of the game. Older titles like Rec Room and VRChat use classic locomotion via thumbsticks or teleportation. In contrast, newer games like Orion Drift, Yeeps, and Digigods favor arm-based locomotion—an approach pioneered by Gorilla Tag—marking a clear evolution from traditional social VR experiences.
Interestingly, this distinction in movement mechanics also reflects a shift in player demographics. The newer, arm-based games appear to resonate more with Generation Z audiences, offering a fresh twist on how social VR is experienced compared to the older generation preferred by millennials and beyond.
