A Chat with Bobby Voicu, Co-Founder at Mixed-Reality Gaming Studio: MixRift

Tell us about MixRift

 

MixRift is a pioneering mixed-reality (MR) gaming studio, founded by a passionate team with unique expertise across gaming, technology and innovation. The company was born with a view to reach the full potential of the MR gaming market, and lead the way in this rapidly emerging field. 

The market projections underscore our vision: the global MR market is forecast to reach $58.3 billion by 2030, with an impressive CAGR of 71.3%. This growth is largely driven by tech giants like Meta and Apple. Meta has reportedly sold over 20 million Quest headsets, demonstrating that consumers are eager to embrace this technology when priced appropriately. 

What we focus on as an emerging and agile XR company, alongside my Co-founders David Pripas (a Meta AR Partner and CPO) and Andrei Vaduva (CTO), is offering innovative, accessible, mass-market experiences. We are pushing the boundaries of seamless integration between physical and digital realms for immersive gameplay by reshaping players’ environments.

 

 

What makes MixRift unique?  

 

We recognised a significant gap in the market – although demand for mixed reality experiences is surging, there is a notable scarcity of high-quality MR games. This disparity presented an undeniable opportunity—one that we are uniquely positioned to seize. What sets us apart is our ambition to bridge the gap in the MR gaming landscape by delivering captivating, immersive experiences that push the boundaries of what’s possible in this dynamic and rapidly evolving medium.

Unlike larger, more mainstream tech players, our specialised team of industry experts is deeply committed to unlocking the potential of MR. Our focus is to enrich user experiences and create ‘wow’ moments for gamers—fostering meaningful connections, offering stress relief, and elevating gaming as a truly immersive hobby. 

Genuine enthusiasm and dedication empower small startups like ours to make a lasting impact, shaping the industry and driving transformative innovation in ways that larger corporations can sometimes overlook.     

 

 

 How has the company evolved over the last year, since you received funding?

 

The investment was primarily directed towards accelerating our game development efforts. With an ambitious roadmap for 2024 and 2025, our aim is to release titles that demonstrate the full capabilities of MR gaming. We have also expanded our team, bringing on talented developers, designers and enhanced our proprietary tools and platforms to create even more sophisticated, immersive experiences. A portion of the funds went toward market research and user testing to better understand our audience and fine-tune our offerings. Finally, we invested in marketing and community-building initiatives to ensure our games reached and engaged the right players.

Our strategic use of funding has not only broadened our audience but also allowed us to further develop the quality of our product. As a result, we are now closer to achieving our goal of establishing the company as a leading brand, with an expanded portfolio of successful and impactful gaming titles.

Our two new exciting titles for the Meta Quest platform are: “Fractured,” a MR 3D puzzle game, available for both Quest 2 and Quest 3, offering an immersive, brain-teasing experience that seamlessly blends with the user’s environment; and “Hell Horde,” an adrenaline-pumping arcade shooter, which pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in MR combat games.

 

What can we hope to see in MixRift’s future?

 

Our vision is to transform the company into a prominent player in the MR gaming  industry. We are dedicating substantial resources to research and development, building advanced tools and technologies that will push the boundaries of what MR can offer.

Strategic partnerships will also be central to our expansion, as we’ll continue to collaborate with key players in hardware and content creation to elevate our offerings and extend our reach. Ultimately, our goal is to become the leading global innovator in mixed-reality content, shaping the future of digital interactions and entertainment in the age of spatial computing.