Former PlayStation and Activision forces have collided to create Maze Theory, a London-based VR studio that already has a game in alpha.

The game is The Vanishing Act and the two major names behind the studio are ex-Activision director Geoff Heath and former PlayStation marketing director Mark Hardy.

The Vanishing Act was originally being developed by Found Studio, who is part of the creative agency Output Group. Heath and Hardy are working with Output Group as part of Maze Theory and that’s how the new VR studio was able to get its hands on the game.

Found is still part of the Output Group according to the companies website, but it isn’t clear what their involvement in the game will be moving forward.

Hardy and Heath were major players in the European games market for a number of years and Heath made such an impact in Britain, that he was anointed as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2009.

They won’t be the only two experienced members of the Maze Theory team, though. Sony’s David Ranyard will be joining the team as well. 

VR is in a crucial stage of development right now. It’s passed the early excitement phase in the gaming industry and has gotten to the point were people are expecting more than just gimmicky products. With full-powered VR rigs still too expensive for many casual consumers and lower-end VR headsets still subpar in their capabilities and content, the technology needs to catch up to the hype sooner rather than later.

Of course, VR isn’t in any immediate danger of being relegated to a novelty and it’d be a surprise to just about everyone if it were to fail, but the stages between early excitement and mass adoption are tumultuous for any new product, especially in the realm of technology.

Seeing influential members of the gaming community like Heath and Hardy flock to VR is a tremendous sign that the industry still has massive amounts of faith in VR. Maze Theory is only one of many major VR studios that have popped since the beginning of the year.