Thanks to the agreement between Meta and the registered trademark Skydream Studios of Navarre, the video game 'A Long Survive' will be available in the largest market in the world in the sector, which includes 80% of the players. However, it will also be available in other stores. "It is expected that it will exceed sales of more than 4 million euros since its launch on March 15, 2025," explained Adolfo Llorente, owner of Skydream Studios.

Meta has chosen Friendly Fire Studios, a brand of the Navarre company Skydream Studios, to develop and distribute virtual reality video games worldwide. Led by Mark Zuckerberg, the American company signed an agreement on July 29 with Adolfo Llorente, owner of the riverside studio, to publish the Navarrese video game 'A Long Survive', whose release was anticipated by the media outlet. Thus, from March 15, 2025, it will be available for sale in the Oculus Store, the most popular online video game store in the United States. The alliance also foresees the development of more titles in the future, and the Tudela company is also talking about the possibility of installing an entertainment center on North American soil.

In fact, the parent company of Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, accounts for around 80% of virtual reality players worldwide. "Entering this market was essential for us because it places us on the international scene," Llorente explained to Navarra Capital, immediately adding that Meta has a volume of close to 100 million monthly active users worldwide.

However, this agreement is compatible with 'A Long Survive' and the future distribution of other video games developed by the Navarra studio in stores that are not owned by Meta, such as SteamVR, Pico Store or Epic Games Store. In addition, in March, they will launch an advertising campaign in collaboration with influencers, gamers and content creators to promote the video game.

Rigorous validation process

Currently, he and his team are in constant contact with the tech giant's offices in San Francisco, Atlanta and Paris to "smooth" aspects of the launch, such as switching from British to American English. "There are very few companies that have this kind of collaboration with Meta. They congratulated us from the beginning on our technical work," Llorente proudly adds, adding that Meta itself was the one who immediately contacted them.

After passing the first validations in California, the North American multinational directed them to a second phase, which was carried out in their European offices located in Paris, closer to the Skydream Studios headquarters. "This is the part of the process where 95% of projects fail, because they evaluate the business plan, the speed of performance, the team's professional history and the ability to manage funds, among other things. It is a way of checking whether we will die of success, and we have also passed that stage," he adds. In parallel, Skydream Studios has begun talks with key players in the regional digital sector, such as IRIS-Navarra Digital Innovation Pole or Nasertic.

Growth

This new impetus will push Skydream Studios' growth to new levels, allowing it to achieve "significant growth" in terms of structure and turnover. In this sense, and according to the agreement signed in America, the sales expected in the first six months of 'A Long Survive' are over 4 million euros. Meta will receive 7% of the profits, although it will not be included in the capital of the Tudela-based company. "We are looking at a US market where there are 80 million active players every month. If we reach 1% of them, we would already be achieving significant numbers," he explained.

Llorente maintains his goal of making Skydream Studios an international benchmark in video game development; therefore, his effort right now consists of providing the company with the tools to achieve this goal. In this sense, it will expand its workforce to twenty-five employees over the next three years, with eight more to join in the coming months. "We will also outsource marketing and advertising to improve at all levels. We have set cruising speed. We are going like a roller coaster and we do not want to stop," he emphasizes.

'A Long Survive'

The company Skydream Studios from Tudela was to release 'A Long Survive' in April of this year, a virtual reality video game designed and produced in Navarre, and which will be available on the main global sales platforms, such as Steam and Oculus. Specifically, it examines how humanity fights against an alien race that leaves the planet uninhabitable. With a spirit of revenge, the protagonists will be part of Space Corp., which, after acquiring laser technology, will pursue the enemy throughout the universe to create a new settlement for humanity in an alliance of countries looking for.

"We are very excited because we are facing a new paradigm of video games based in the Regional Community, to which we can give our grain of sand," said the company's founder, Adolfo Llorente, a 50-year-old from La Rioja. He and his team have achieved great success at some of the most prestigious video game conventions in Spain. For example, at the last edition of Mangafest Sevilla 2023, 'A Long Survive' won the award for best indie video game despite not being entered in the competition. "The organizers said that the number of people who voted for our game was such that they were forced to declare it the winner," he recalled with a laugh.