Facebook acquires VR company Two Big Ears, introduces 360 Spatial Workstation

If you think Facebook’s VR game was a joke then you were dead wrong. The company has announced the acquisition of Scottish VR company Two Big Ears.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed

The company specialises in immersive audio products based on solutions for both cinematic VR and gaming, and Facebook has not wasted any time putting the company’s expertise to good use. Alongside the announcement, it also introduced 360 Spatial Workstation, a software suite for designing spatial audio for 360 video and cinematic VR.

The Facebook 360 Spatial Workstation has plugins for popular audio workstations, including a time synchronised 360 degree video player and utilities to help design and publish spatial audio in a variety of formats.

Read more: Facebook films Grand Central Station in stunning 360-degree video

Announcing the news, Two Big Ears says that it is excited at the prospect of working with Facebook and the scope of work that is now as a result of the acquisition is possible to do.

“We’re excited to be able to continue developing great tools for a larger number of people across the world. 3Dception for Games will no longer be a separate product but we will be working with the Oculus team to combine our expertise and create best in class VR audio,” it concludes.

Last month at its F8 Conference, Facebook announced Surround 360, its 3D virtual reality camera that captures 360-degree video in 8K. A few days ago Facebook showed off its first 360 video that it shot at New York’s Grand Central Station, indicating its intentions with the video format.

Read more: Facebook brings its F8 developer conference to the world

“Our mission is to make VR audio succeed across all devices and platforms and continue to help creators make the best experiences for billions of people across the world,” notes Two Big Ears. Notably, much of its software is free to download as well.

The existing customers of the company’s Pro tier option will continue to receive support in accordance with the current agreement for the next 12 months.