Electronic Arts for VR sports games.
Vinci Games is building Electronic Arts for VR sports games. We're building the next-generation of arcade sports games for all platforms. Our first game is Blacktop Hoops, the first AAA multiplayer arcade VR basketball game. Players can chain together flashy dribble tricks, shots, and high-flying dunks to finish off AI or opponents around the globe in epic games of arcade basketball. The game was designed with the most natural basketball mechanics ever built for virtual reality. The company is led by CEO Nathan Ventura who led world-class developer programs at Oculus, Google, and Unity and CTO Maciej Szcześnik who was the lead gameplay designer at CD Projekt Red for the award-winning Witcher series.
Latest News
Active Founders
Nathaniel Ventura
Nathan Ventura is the co-founder and CEO of Vinci Games, which he started with Maciej Szcześnik in 2021. Nathan oversees product, marketing, and business development for the company. He spent his career leading world-class developer programs at Facebook, Google, and Unity. Currently he is focused on building the next generation of AAA competitive sports for virtual reality with Blacktop Hoops.
Maciej Szcześnik
Maciej Szcześnik is the co-founder and CTO of Vinci Games. He is responsible for game design and development. He studied physics (BSc) and computer science (MSc) and started his game dev career in 2004. Former lead gameplay designer on The Witcher 1, 2, and 3 at CD Projekt Red and Lead Designer at 11 Bit Studios. Former Vice-Rector and author of Video Game Development course at Warsaw Film School. Maciej started working on VR games and apps in 2015. Won Unity Neon Challenge in 2018.
Company Launches
TL:DR Blacktop Hoops is a streetball-inspired multiplayer VR basketball game with the most natural basketball mechanics ever designed for virtual reality. It’s built for VR with plans for full cross-platform play across console, mobile, and desktop.
Hi we’re Nathan and Maciej, founders of Vinci Games and developer of Blacktop Hoops. We’re building the first AAA single player and multiplayer basketball game for VR. It’s built with intuitive mechanics so you can shoot just like Steph Curry and dunk like Lebron James.
Problem
Over the last decade sports games have been monopolized across all major platforms with an extremely limited selection of games for players. Games like NBA 2K, FIFA, and Madden release games each year with extremely poor user reviews and limited innovation. With the rapid growth of VR adoption, no true AAA competitive sports franchises exist on VR.
Solution
Blacktop Hoops is designed with ultra-natural mechanics which allow players to chain together flashy dribble tricks, shots, and high-flying dunks to finish off AI or real-world opponents in epic games of arcade basketball.
We’ve worked with pro streetball players and dunkers like King Handles and Jordan Kilganon for mocap animations for the game so opponents feel realistic and respond dynamically to how you play.
We also brought on world-class voiceover talent including Bobbito Garcia (NBA Street), Dante Basco (Avatar the Last Airbender), and Renee Montgomery (ex-WNBA Allstar).
Founders Backstory
Last year we had a crazy idea: could you build a VR basketball game that felt as natural as playing in real life? I spent my entire life playing basketball and previously worked at Oculus and Unity. Our CTO Maciej had spent 18 years at CD Projekt RED as the lead game designer on Witcher 1 - 3. Early last year we spent two months building a prototype of a VR streetball game. After we released it on Reddit, it hit the frontpage of every major VR subreddit including /r/Gaming, /r/Virtualreality /r/Oculus, /r/SteamVR, /r/PSVR, and /r/Playstation. From that point we knew we were onto something big.
Our Ask
- Download and play Blacktop Hoops - Alpha on Quest or Steam. Share your feedback with us at founders@vinci-games.com.
- For Investors shoot us an email at founders@vinci-games.com.
- For Collaborators with ties to the NBA, sportswear brands (i.e. Nike, Adidas), games, VR, and the music industry send us an email at n@vinci-games.com if you’d like to partner.
- Share this post! Please help spread the word about Blacktop Hoops and join our Discord community.
Check out our most recent Alpha launch trailer.
Learn more at → https://www.blacktophoopsvr.com/
