Atari has confirmed that the forthcoming Rollercoaster Tycoon Joyride, its first VR title, will make its debut at GDC 2018 later this month. The game is slated to launch in the first half of 2018 on PS4 with support for PSVR.

The existence of Rollercoaster Tycoon Joyride was confirmed initially last year in small blurb in an investor announcement, but now Atari is planning to give the game a proper reveal this month at the GDC 2018 conference in San Francisco, the company announced in an email.

Details are light on exactly what the game will entail, including who will be responsible for developing the game (Atari functions as the publisher), but PlayStation VR support has been confirmed. Unclear at this time is whether the game is VR-only or VR-optional, and whether or not it could end up on PC VR headsets.

At first blush Rollercoaster Tycoon, a legendary theme-park management game, seems like a perfect fit for VR—build awesome roller coasters and then ride on them! But, as many developers and VR gamers have learned quite early on, rollercoasters can be a recipe for nausea in VR if the locomotion design is not very carefully considered.

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We expect to be able to try Rollercoaster Tycoon Joyride for ourselves at GDC 2018 later this month and will find out whether players will indeed be riding with joy, or if park managers will need to hire plenty of new janitors for the post-ride cleanup.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Raphael

    Why can’t we get through one VR game without discussing vomit? I have No Limits 2 VR and it’s an amazing ride especially when you stand up. Can make me dizzy but VR I refuse to fall over or vomit with any VR experience.

    • Bryan Ischo

      Why can’t we get through one discussion about VR without you railing against the notion of VR sickness?

      • Raphael

        Vomit is your world… i get it. It’s a fetish.

      • AJ_74

        The problem is that “VR sickness” is no more a thing than your garden variety motion sickness, yet people like you insist on calling it “VR sickness, as if it’s something inherent to VR. It’s not.

        If you get motion sickness on roller coasters/amusement park rides or on boats/ships, or even in a moving car, you’re likely to get it in VR. Considering the types of experiences VR is simulating, why would that be shock to anyone?

        My Oculus Rift has entertained large parties on a few occasions, and out of the DOZENS of people that tried it, only 2 couldn’t enjoy it due to motion sickness (one being my wife’s aunt, who has to take Gravol before she gets on a plane, ship, and even before a long car ride.)

        VR has many issues that need to be addressed before it can become a mainstream entertainment medium, but I’m sorry, “VR sickness” just isn’t one of them.

        I don’t want the Oculuses of the world to solve motion sickness. That’s what modern medicine is for.

        • Toby Zuijdveld

          “The problem is that “VR sickness” is no more a thing than your garden variety motion sickness”
          This is actually incorrect. In the same way VR sickness affects different people in different ways in different games, so too is it differentiated from motion sickness. Motion sickness is commonly related to inner ear/balance issues, whereas VR sickness is a legitimate disconnect between sensory inputs (ie, brain thinks you’re moving but ear etc reports no motion).

          My housemate for example gets ‘motion’ sickness from playing video games on a TV, but is not affected inside VR.

    • gothicvillas

      Snowflakes vomit from anything these days.

      • Raphael

        I suspect you’re right. Sensitive stomachs need to be sure every game isn’t gonna trigger their spewies.

  • Des Dearman

    My money is on a standard generic VR coaster ride, given the title, given the platform… and err Atari!
    A 3d diorama full on tycoon game would be amazing, sadly I don’t think this is it.

    • Cynthia Bagley

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    • Downvote King

      I believe past versions of the game already contained the feature to ride coasters you had built

  • ITALI-LORI-MONTI

    sembra carino…ma da una foto non si può capire nulla…soprattutto se so tratta di un gioco per VR …..vedremo O.o

    • brubble

      pardon? ;)

      • ITALI-LORI-MONTI

        pardon cosa? non sto parlando con te………

  • j

    you can go on vr roller coasters on youtube. it better have much more than that if it wants to sell well

  • Toby Zuijdveld

    Everything after RCT 2 has sucked, so no great hopes here. But boy howdy would I love another great RCT, let alone with VR support.

    • gf

      rct3 was the best tyvm, planet coaster is perfect

      • Toby Zuijdveld

        RCT3 was functionally retarded.

  • Toby Zuijdveld

    From another source – “The PS4 exclusive title will be “enhanced” for PSVR as an optional feature, but will be fully playable outside of VR.”

  • brubble

    Psvr…Rollercoasters… sounds barfy.