Rec Room

Rec Room offers a free-to-play social gaming platform allowing users to create content for immersive experiences and engage in virtual experiences. It initially focused on a VR headset offering and eventually pivoted to mobile devices, gaming consoles, and PC. Users can party with friends and create content such as escape rooms and adventure games. It caters to casual gamers by offering casual spaces to hang out and more skilled creators can earn money by selling content. Unlike other social gaming platforms that rely on external sites to provide the “social” aspect, Rec Room provides it within the platform. Rec Room generates revenue through the purchases made by users who buy virtual currency to spend in-game. 

In June 2023 the company announced that it would port its platform to Apple’s Vision Pro AR headset. Further, the company announced that it would bring full-body avatars to its platform by March 2024, with users having the option of toggling between the current “bean-based” avatars, or the full-body ones.

As of January 2024, the company recorded over 84 million lifetime users, with over 12 million rooms created. Previously, in the 12 months since November 2020, its monthly user count had grown 450% led by mobile gamer growth of 10x. Moreover, in March 2021, it reported that it had paid out a total of USD 1 million to creators with 1 million monthly active users connecting through VR headsets.

Funding and financials

In its most recent funding round in December 2021, Rec Room raised USD 145 million at a USD 3.5 billion valuation led by Coatue Management, with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, and Madrona Venture Group. The funds were allocated to explore potential M&A opportunities and platform development. This came just nine months after its USD 100 million round valuing it at USD 1.2 billion.