Game Announcement & Developer Insight: Rival Stars Horse Racing is Coming to VR!

A brand new version of Rival Stars Horse Racing is coming to VR platforms later this year. The game, while using components and assets from the PC and Mobile game, has been rebuilt by developer PikPok for Meta Quest, SteamVR and Apple Vision Pro. 

During my recent call with PikPok’s CEO Mario Wynands, he was able to give me a bit of advance insights into what to expect from this new version of the game: 

“For VR, you want things to be very physical, very tactile, very immersive,” Mario explained to me, admitting that the PC and Mobile Rival Stars is generally a rather menu-heavy and stats-heavy game. “The VR version focuses more on the relationship with your horses and how you bond with them. It’s a more intimate experience.” The trailer showcases the player feeding and grooming horses with virtual hands – standard features in many horse games, but new to Rival Stars, and for the first time in Virtual Reality.

Can the horses get some bedding in their stalls though please?

Not confined as much by UI, horse stalls get more space in the VR edition

Despite sharing a name and brand, Rival Stars Horse Racing: VR Edition is essentially a new game. “It had to be broken down and rebuilt,” Mario says. “We really had to start coding from scratch. That’s why it’s a completely different project.”
This makes for a lot of exciting new features in Rival Stars Horse Racing: VR Edition, but it also means that players cannot expect the VR-specific features to be included in the PC and Mobile versions. 

With this foray into the VR market, PikPok is taking a leap rather than relying on an established market. “There are brief horse riding moments in some VR titles,” Mario summarizes their competitor research, “but no VR games focused on horses. We’re bringing something very new to the VR market.” 

Being the first product in a new market like that is of course a risk, but also an opportunity. “We expect the game to appeal to the horse lifestyle enthusiasts,” Mario explains, calling back to our earlier discussion on Rival Stars’ different target audiences that you can read about here. Believing in the passion and enthusiasm that players in this niche have demonstrated at other opportunities, Mario speculates that some people from the horse game community may even buy a VR headset to experience the game. 

“But we also hope that we’re bringing something new and interesting to VR generally, ” he adds, “and that VR enthusiasts will be intrigued by the game, and being able to do things that they aren’t able to do in other titles, whether it’s the riding and racing aspects or the bonding with the horses.”

Personally, I’m very excited to see how this gambit will play out for PikPok. While I’d vouch for the PC horse game market any day, I don’t exactly have proof for a demand in VR horse games. At the same time, I completely agree that a good horse game can draw in people who may not have been explicitly asking for one.

I’ll forgive the slightly wonky grip on the reins.

The User Interface also had to be rebuilt from the ground up for VR.

A potential hindrance when it comes to horse riding in VR is players getting motion sick when their virtual body moves. Mario says PikPok is confident in their product in that regard however: “It’s all feeling very good! I’m very susceptible to motion sickness, but I have had zero problems with the game,” Mario explains. “The team has been working really hard to make sure this isn’t an issue.” 

As someone who shares a sensibility for getting motion sick – I’ve had to take travel sickness medication to play a first person shooter with very limited FOV settings a few times – I’m excited to try Rival Stars Horse Racing VR myself, and optimistic that it can work. In 2023, I mentored a bachelor’s project from my former university that focused on horse riding in VR - check that out here - and was surprised at how well it worked for me. Not only did I not get motion sick, I ended up having my legs twitch in an attempt to steer my horse, because the experience was convincing enough to trigger my muscle memory. I’m looking forward to finding out if the VR version of Rival Stars does the same.

Make sure to check out my full interview with Mario Wynands from PikPok if you haven’t already, to learn more about Rival Stars Horse Racing and its development:

Rival Stars Horse Racing: VR Edition is coming to Meta Quest, SteamVR and Apple Vision Pro in Q4 2024. If you’re interested, make sure to wishlist the game on Steam and Meta to help it gain visibility.