Sinn Studio

Sinn Studio Inc. is a Toronto-based game development company focused on the extended reality (XR) market, specifically within the virtual and mixed reality combat genres. Founded in 2017 by childhood friends Alek Sinn, Almir Brljak, and Anas Siraj, the studio has navigated a challenging path from a bootstrapped venture to a significant player in the XR gaming space. Alek Sinn, the CEO and Creative Director, leveraged his background in film and animation to explore the then-nascent VR industry. The initial years were marked by financial struggle and the release of a few games that did not meet commercial expectations, leading the company to the brink of dissolution in 2019.

The turning point for Sinn Studio arrived with the launch of "Swordsman VR" in September 2020. This physics-based medieval combat game became a top-selling title on platforms like the PlayStation Store, saving the studio from bankruptcy and establishing its reputation. "Swordsman VR" allows players to customize a warrior and engage in realistic, physics-driven sword fights against various factions and powerful bosses. The game's design draws inspiration from Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and is built to be accessible to players of all skill levels. It has received numerous updates since its launch, including new combat mechanics, enemy factions, and a training ground.

The studio's core business model revolves around the development and sale of premium VR games and, more recently, a move towards a free-to-play model. Their revenue is generated from game sales on platforms such as Steam, Meta Quest, and PlayStation VR. In May 2024, Sinn Studio secured $2.5 million in a seed funding round led by Hartmann Capital, with participation from several other venture firms and angel investors. This capital is earmarked for the development of a new real-time, player-versus-player (PvP) VR combat game, with the working title "BATTLEGROUNDS". This upcoming free-to-play title will be driven by the company's proprietary "Combat Engine" and a "Large Intent Model" (LIM), a neural network designed to interpret and predict player movements to create more realistic AI opponents.

Keywords: VR game development, XR combat games, virtual reality, Swordsman VR, melee combat, physics-based gaming, Alek Sinn, Almir Brljak, Toronto startup, PlayStation VR, Steam VR, Meta Quest, free-to-play, PvP games, Combat Engine, Large Intent Model, real-time combat, spatial computing, game developer, independent studio