TAIPEI, TAIWAN and STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (June 25, 2016) Acer Inc. (TWSE: 2353, LSE: ACID) and Starbreeze AB (First North: STAR) announced today that their respective Board of Directors have approved the establishment of a joint venture for design, manufacturing, promotion, marketing and sales of the StarVR Virtual Reality (VR) Head-Mounted Display (HMD) as previously announced May 15th, 2016 upon signing the letter of intent.
The new company is provisionally named Acer Starbreeze Corporation, with an authorized capital of up to NT$800 million (US$25 million) shared equally between the companies, and is expected to be incorporated in Taiwan in the third quarter of this year subject to necessary approvals from regulators. Acer and Starbreeze will each be holding 50-percent of the total shares and incrementally inject capital to the joint venture based on capital needs and planned schedule.
"The joint venture with Starbreeze highlights Acer's commitment of bringing premium user experiences in time to the market," said Jason Chen, Corporate President and CEO, Acer Inc. "Combining Starbreeze's industry-leading VR technology, and Acer's established experience in hardware and computing, we will bring VR experiences to new heights with StarVR."
"Our strategic alignment with Acer is going to exponentially improve the StarVR HMD in terms of quality, execution and market reach. Together, we will keep pushing the frontier of VR technology," said Bo Andersson Klint, CEO, Starbreeze AB. "With the Acer production partnership for the StarVR headset, our joint venture with IMAX for location-based entertainment, and the content platform collaboration with Smilegate, we now have a perfect ecosystem for our VR centers."
With its best-in-class cinematic experience, StarVR targets professional- and location-based entertainment market such as high-end cinemas, gaming arcades, automotive retail and aviation training. We expect to ship a small volume of units in 2016, while mass production is scheduled for 2017.
StarVR provides a truly immersive VR experience with its unique ultra-wide 210-degree horizontal field of view, with custom optics that deliver great image quality across the eye's natural vision. This allows users to move their eyes freely in any direction and continue to be immersed in the virtual world, without the sensation of wearing blinders that conventional VR displays bring. Powered by a dual Quad HD display architecture, one per eye, StarVR provides a realistic visual experience with a total panoramic definition of 5120x1440 pixels, with highly-detailed scenes and virtually no screen door effect.
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For more information, please contact:
Steven Chung, Corporate Communications, Acer Inc.
Tel: +886 (2) 8691 3202, email: steven.h.chung@acer.com
Maeva Sponbergs, EVP of Communication and Head of Investor Relations, Starbreeze AB
Tel: +46(0)8-209 208, email: ir@starbreeze.com
About Acer:
Established in 1976, Acer is a hardware + software + services company dedicated to the research, design, marketing, sale, and support of innovative products that enhance people's lives. Acer's product offerings include PCs, displays, projectors, servers, tablets, smartphones and wearables. It is also developing cloud solutions to bring together the Internet of Things. As one of the world's top 5 PC companies, Acer employs 7,000 people worldwide and has a presence in over 160 countries. Its shares are listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE: 2353), and Global Depository Receipts (GDR) are listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: ACID). Please visit www.acer.com for more information.
About Starbreeze:
Starbreeze is an independent creator, publisher and distributor of high quality entertainment products. With studios in Stockholm, Paris and Los Angeles, the company creates games and other virtual reality entertainment products, based on proprietary design and licensed content. Starbreeze's most recent games include PAYDAY 2, the adrenaline fueled bank robbing co-op game and the upcoming John Wick VR shooter and survival co-op FPS OVERKILL's The Walking Dead.
Starbreeze has set out to develop truly immersive virtual reality experiences, by integrating software and hardware in its StarVR head mounted display, to be produced together with Acer, displaying a unique field of vision and a mission to bring top-end VR to large audiences. Starbreeze launched StarVR with a VR-experience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June 2015, gained by teaming up with French Infinite Eye. In January 2016, Starbreeze unveiled the StarCade initiative; centers that invites people to immerse themselves into premium VR experiences. The first cinematic VR experience "Cockatoo Spritz" directed by Stephane Barbato, premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival 2016.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Starbreeze's shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm First North Premier under the tickers STAR A and STAR B with the ISIN-codes SE0007158928 (A-share) and SE0005992831 (B-share). Remium Nordic is the company's Certified Adviser. For more information, please visit http://www.starbreeze.com, http://www.starvr.com, http://www.overkillsoftware.com
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