If Music Ally’s news has packed a little more… punch recently, it might be because our editor’s lockdown-fitness activity is jabbing, hooking and upper-cutting thin air in virtual reality game BoxVR.
Now the game’s developer, British startup FitXR, has raised $7.5m of Series A funding – specifically $6.3m from VC firms and a $1.2m innovation loan from Innovate UK.
The company says it plans to expand its operations in Europe and North America and launch “several exciting new products and services for people to keep fit in virtual reality” with the funding.
The way FitXR is described in the announcement is as an intersection between games and fitness, but we’d add something else to that: music. The music is key to BoxVR, which like fellow VR title Beat Saber takes its cues from the long line of music rhythm games (Guitar Hero etc) of the past.
In BoxVR’s case, there’s a soundtrack ranging from hip-hop, pop and drum’n’bass to rock and metal, although (we’ve been digging) it’s sourced from Shutterstock’s royalty-free PremiumBeat library rather than commercial artists.
Perhaps the new funding round might be able to spark some talks with rightsholders…
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