How ILMxLab built the Vader Immortal: Episode II virtual reality experience

Posted byby Dean Takahashi
September 28, 2019
Updated June 18, 2025
7 min

I can never get the folks at ILMxLAB to acknowledge that their Vader Immortal virtual reality experience is actually a game. They call it an “experience.” I call it a game. I suspect it has something to do with the legal deal between Disney and Electronic Arts. The latter gets to make Star Wars games, while Disney’s divisions like ILMxLAB have to make, uh, experiences.

Whatever you call it, Vader Immortal is one of the more interesting creations for Facebook’s Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift VR headsets. ILMxLab and Oculus released the surprise Episode II of Vader Immortal on the Oculus Store during a keynote speech on Wednesday at the Oculus Connect 6 event in San Jose, California.

Unlock premium content and VIP community perks with GB M A X! Join now to enjoy our free and premium perks.

Join now →

Sign in to your account.

Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.