Maze Theory, a London-based XR studio, is launching its mysterious Infinite Inside mixed reality game on July 12.
Maze Theory, a London-based XR studio that has made award-winning games, is launching its mysterious Infinite Inside mixed reality game on July 12.
The puzzle-adventure mixed reality game will debut in virtual reality on Meta Quest, PlayStation VR 2, Pico and Steam. It’s also debuting on the Apple Vision Pro, coincident with the European launch of Apple’s new immersive headset. What’s interesting about it is the developers have tried to take mixed reality technology — where you see both the physical world and a digital world — to a new level.
Maze Theory has previously made games like Peaky Blinders: The Kings Ransom, Doctor Who: The Edge of Time and Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins. Maze Theory was bought by immersive technology and gaming company Saltwater Games in December 2023 and operates as a subsidiary of Saltwater Games.
That gives the studio a chance to experiment, and with the mixed reality project, Maze Theory has a chance to do something no one else has done before, said Ian Hambleton, Maze Theory CEO, and Russ Harding, chief gaming officer, in an interview with GamesBeat.
With the upcoming European launch of Apple Vision Pro (and following the Asia Pacific launch), Infinite Inside will also be among the first games available for the new handset. Hambleton sees the chance as an advantage to be early on the Apple platform as it means the company will be able to learn how to make games for the platform at an accelerated rate.
The Infinite Inside is one of the first mixed reality experiences that seamlessly blends augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), making these multi-dimensions a fundamental part of the storytelling and gameplay.Origins
The idea for the game came from a project called Valentina, Harding said. The studio got distracted by work on Doctor Who. The team wanted to experiment with the idea of portals, but wanted something that was tangible and tactile, where hand interaction was going to be really key. Using hand controls, you can navigate and teleport through the environment without any game controllers. They wanted this notion of moving between augmented reality and virtual reality, as that transition can seem magical.
“We’ve always got this balance in what we do between gaming and entertainment. In Peaky Blinders, there’s a lot in story, there’s a lot in Doctor Who,” Harding said. “There are influences like the Da Vinci Code. Inception. It’s like being in those sort of worlds, and just in a much more immersive way. And to be honest, that’s where we see a lot of the Apple Vision Pro stuff going. I think there are gonna be major crossovers between big entertainment IP like Disney and gaming. And there’s this nice space in the middle.”
In recent months, the team learned more about developing for the Apple Vision Pro. Now they’re watching how Apple evolves the tech based on the second version of the developer platform that was unveiled along with the eight new countries.
