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PopCap cofounder John Vechey forms new virtual reality startup Pluto VR

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

John Vechey, the cofounder of Bejeweled maker PopCap Games, has the virtual reality bug. Like many game developers, Vechey has it so bad that he has created a new startup, Pluto VR, to take advantage of the opportunity that the resurgence of VR has created.

But Seattle-based Pluto VR isn’t yet focused on making games. Rather, it will focus on the software needed to make VR and augmented reality environments more social and connected. The move is an interesting sign of the times and worth noting. Vechey’s last startup, PopCap Games, focused on zany and casual games such as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled. It was sold to Electronic Arts in 2012 for $750 million.

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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.