Sequel to Quest’s Most Popular VR Boxing Game Teases Release in New Trailer

13

Thrill of the Fight 2, the upcoming sequel to Quest’s most popular VR boxing sim, seems to be gearing up for release, as studios Sealost Interactive and Halfbrick Studios tossed out its first teaser trailer.

Update (September 16th, 2024): Announced early last year, we’re still waiting on gameplay, although the studios are chumming the waters now with a new live-action teaser, stating to “Prepare Yourself.”

The game is coming to Quest first, however original creator Ian Fitz says the team plans to bring it to other platforms eventually, which he notes isn’t due to “any contractual exclusivity or anything like that.”

Additionally, Fitz notes the Sealost Interactive team officially started work on Thrill of the Fight 2 in July 2020, but scaling the studio was an issue. “I abandoned that [internal scaling] plan and started working with Halfbrick, and we restarted the project together in January 2023,” Fitz says in a Discord post.

There’s no release date yet, however Fitz says we’ll find out “soon! ! and I mean soon!” The original article detailing the initial reveal and Halfbrick’s involvement follows below:

Original Article (January 23rd: 2023): Created by Ian Fitz and his studio Sealost Interactive in 2016, Thrill of the Fight focuses on realistic boxing mechanics, eschewing arcadey things like stamina bars and unrealistic knockout blows.

Thrill of the Fight 2, which is now in co-development by Halfbrick Studios, is bringing the much-requested feature of multiplayer mode. In a development update video (below), Halfbrick CEO Shainiel Deo reveals a few more features coming to the sequel: improved audio and visual feedback, changes to how combinations are scored, more gameplay variety to keep players coming back for more.

Halfbrick is known for developing both the flatscreen versions of Fruit Ninja and Fruit Ninja 2 and also their respective VR adaptations. The studio’s bread and butter however has been its slew of mobile games, including Jetpack Joyride, Battle Racing Stars, Dan the Man, and Shadows Remain.

In an update posted to Reddit by Sealost Interactive, series developer Ian Fitz discusses Halfbrick’s involvement.

“The reason I’m partnering up with Halfbrick on this is because I was comfortable it would help make the game I wanted to make. They want to make (and play) the same game I do,” Fitz says.

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: 'Metro Awakening' on Quest 3S Brings Snappy Shooting and Smart Scavenging

Fitz also broke down the division of labor, and how the sequel is being made in cooperation with Halfbrick.

“I made the blueprint. Sealost prototyped and proved out many of the mechanics and tech challenges. Halfbrick is putting together a release-worthy product and supporting it into the future. I’m in meetings with them every workday building the product right alongside them and making sure we don’t deviate from the original plan (which hasn’t been a problem because, again, they want to make the same game I do).”

Fitz notes the partnership with Halfbrick “doesn’t have anything to do with funding. This is just about having a solid production team and a plan in place to support the game post-launch.”

The studios say they’re aiming for release “later this year,” although that’s admittedly “just an estimate based on current progress,” Fitz says.

It’s still unclear which platforms are initial targets, however if the original is any indications, we’re liable to see it on Quest 2/Pro, Steam VR, and possibly also PSVR 2.

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. See here for more information.


Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Cooolone

    Give it a pass-troughmode even if it’s just for the punching bag and speed bag that would be a cool little exercise program in my living room

    • Flo

      The passthrough mode exist already for few month for everything :)

  • Pablo C

    TOF1 is the most physically intensive oculus game. Far from all the music games out there.

  • ViRGiN

    Ah, Fruit Ninja. One of the most often used game by Pimax to demonstrate it’s capabilities xD

  • NL_VR

    Best boxing game

  • Cool! I’d love to try the multiplayer.

  • Pipanni

    Why would you want to play on PSVR? To be choked by the stupid cable around your neck? The Quest’s awesome wirelessness is the only way to play realistic fighting games.

    • Nevets

      The "awesome wirelessness" is at the expense of PC-grade graphics. The very best games on Quest have substantial compromises and are closer to mobile graphics and performance than PC games.

      The Quest platform has benefits of course, including cost, increased adoption and as you say wirelessness But that does not render the PSVR2 hardware choices as "stupid" nor the Quest hardware as "awesome". It is horses for courses. Hopefully Sony will release a wireless version as recent findings hint, although how that can be consistent with their non-existent VR promotion strategy remains to be seen.

      • Juan Ritz

        Agreed, and boxing is the ideal use case for a wireless headset. I really don't think that the OP was saying that nobody would want to play anything on PSVR2, as he clearly singled out realistic fighting games, so you may just be arguing with straw men.

        • Nevets

          so you may just be arguing with straw men

          I think you're right…

      • Ardra Diva

        You seem unaware that the Quest can wirelessly tether to a PC

        • Nevets

          Of course I’m aware of that. But in that case I’d be comparing PC with PC instead of PC with native standalone.

  • ZarathustraDK

    Note to parents, if you play TotF and you experience haptic feedback, and the difficulty seems low, you're wearing your screenglasses and not a VR-headset.