Realize Music announced that Realize Music: Sing will relaunch on November 13, 2025, for Meta Quest devices. And now it’s an actual video game.
Cofounded by Mike Wilson, best known as cofounder of Devolver Digital, the company is positioning Sing as Wilson’s final major venture in the gaming industry. Wilson did an exclusive interview with GamesBeat about the relaunch.
After a short “soft launch” as a subscription wellness app earlier this year, this first-of-its-kind VR singing game is returning with a refined access model, expanded features, new ways to play, and the largest licensed music catalog in video game history, with over a million tracks from some of the biggest names in music.
More tracks are being added weekly. Realize Music: Sing creates a safe, judgment-free space to sing for fun and pure enjoyment. Since you sing inside a VR app, you can’t see anyone who might intimidate you or snicker at you.
Every track transforms into a reactive VR world that responds to your voice with color, light, and motion. It’s like the “music visualizers” that appeared on game machines and smartphones a while ago.
With word-by-word lyric sync, optional pitch feedback, achievements to chase, and two distinct gameplay modes (Song Hero for scoring and leaderboards, Singadelic for expressive play), the app turns the joy of singing into a tool for both joyful expression and wellness.
Pulling the app from the market
Since we last talked this spring, Wilson said he focused on raising the funding for the company and “relaunch Realize Music: Sing as an actual video game. Before today, it was known more as a subscription wellness app, where it helped people realize the powerful nature (without passing itself off as a drug that needed FDA approval) of music.
The company got its initial funding from Meta and its wellness division, which gave Realize Music a $500,000 grant.
“I always thought of it was as a wellness app, like Tripp, and we just never really questioned it,” Wilson said.
The wellness app was live on the market for 10 days in February — the original launch window. But the company had to pull down the app because of a third-party lawsuit between two of the major partners.
That turned out to be a good thing because the company got about 10 days of data from users and it was able to analyze the data.
“It’s been a wild ride with all the intricacies of the music industry and making up a bunch of new stuff, because no game has ever really done this type of thing,” Wilson said.
The partners agreed with Realize Music after the data showed that people would rather buy songs one by one rather than subscribe for a longer period of time.
“People wished it was more of a video game, had scoring and and wasn’t subscription only,” Wilson said. “They wished there was another option just to buy songs or song packs, like on Beat Saber. So that’s what we did. We added that option and you can turn the library into a video game.”
To redo the game, the company needed more money. During the summer, Wilson took time out to raise money from angels investors.
Wilson was funding the project himself, beyond the grant from Meta. Altogether, the company has raised about $3.5 million. The company has just a couple of full-time people and at various times about a dozen people contributed to it from around the world.
For all you shower singers
Whether you sing every day or think you can’t carry a tune, Realize Music: Sing is for everyone. All talent levels are welcome, and most sessions are private by design. It’s a space where you can practice, experiment, and enjoy the well-documented benefits of singing without pressure.
Simply grab the headset, pick a song from the catalog, and the stage is yours. Lyrics float clearly in front of you in one of a dozen immersive worlds, as the world bends and shifts with your voice. Hit a soaring note and the sky might ignite in bursts of color; whisper a verse and the scene softens around you. Every chorus fills the space with motion, light, and the feeling of a world alive to your voice.
It isn’t only about singing. With your controllers you can pound on virtual drums in rhythm, paint streaks of 3D light through the air, search the massive catalog with your voice, or even play fully reclined. Alone, it feels like a private concert; cast to a TV, it becomes a shared living-room performance where friends can join in the fun. However you use it, Sing turns your voice and popular music into play, wrapping music and wellness into a single, unforgettable moment.
Wilson saw an article on singing in the Washington Post, where a doctor was quoted saying that nobody tells you not to jog or not to do yoga because you’re not great at it. By contrast, with singing, people are just ashamed to do it in front of others. That’s why the VR platform is good, as people can’t see the faces of those watching them.
Key Features
● Sing in VR – Step into dynamic, reactive worlds that respond to your voice with color,
light, and motion.
● Song Hero Mode – Compete for scores and leaderboards in a rhythm-game challenge
for vocals.
● Singadelic Mode – A non-scoring mode that turns every track into a freeform, expressive
wellness experience.
● Play Beyond Singing – Use controllers to drum, paint streaks of light, search with your
voice, and even play while dancing or while fully reclined.
● Record-Breaking Catalog – The largest licensed music library ever featured in a video
game, spanning genres and eras, with new tracks added weekly.
● Judgment-Free Design – Sing for the way it makes you feel, without scores or
leaderboards. Sing for yourself.
● Social Options – Sing privately or cast performances to a TV so friends can join in.
● Wellness Built In – Grounded in research on singing’s impact on mood, lung capacity,
and the vagus nerve.
Sing for how you feel
Realize Music: Sing is a video game built on the science of singing, combining the fun of
interactive play with proven benefits for body and mind. Research shows that singing has
measurable benefits for both body and mind. Vocalization like humming or chanting can
stimulate the vagus nerve, activating the parasympathetic nervous system to slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, and ease stress.
Studies also show singing releases endorphins and oxytocin while reducing cortisol, boosting mood and fostering emotional connection. Realize Music: Sing taps into these proven effects, encouraging players to let go through music and self-expression, with scoring and leaderboards available as an option for those who want a challenge.
“The health benefits of singing are well documented, but what keeps people coming back is the pure joy, feelings of self-improvement, and connection with others,” said Mike Wilson, cofounder of Realize Music. “That’s why we rebuilt Sing to be a game first, with wellness as a natural bonus.”
Library and platforms
Realize Music: Sing launches with the largest licensed music catalog in video game history,
featuring over a million songs. This unprecedented library spans every genre and era, giving players an unmatched breadth of choice.
Access to the catalog is flexible by design. Players can preview a curated set of free tracks,
unlock individual songs or packs permanently, or subscribe for unlimited access. Subscribers will see the library expand every week with both new music and new interactive worlds, ensuring the experience continues to grow long after launch.
At launch, Sing will be available on the Meta Quest Store in the United States, with additional regions and platforms to follow as licensing expands. A companion mobile app is also in development, allowing players to find their vocal range, browse songs and build playlists outside of VR.
What’s New in the relaunch
Many of the changes in this relaunch were driven by user feedback during the soft launch
period, shaping how players can access music and interact with the game.
● No Paywall – Try the app without a subscription.
● Flexible Access to a Massive Library – Preview tracks for free, purchase individual
songs or albums, or subscribe for unlimited access to the industry’s largest licensed
music catalog.
● Improved Discovery – A streamlined interface, better search, and a Top Hits Jukebox
that places hundreds of popular songs front and center.
● Lyric Sync & Pitch Detection – Word-by-word lyrics now live, with real-time pitch
feedback coming soon.
● Progression & Achievements – XP progression added and achievement system fully
online.
● New Ways to Play – Expanded interactivity including Song Hero and Singadelic modes,
voice search, drumming, painting, and even reclined play.
“The changes in this relaunch came directly from what players told us they wanted,” said Mark Roemer, CEO of Realize Music, in a statement. “Now users can try a dozen different hits for free, each tied to one of the unique worlds. They can also buy songs as they go or subscribe for full access, with new music and new worlds added every week.”
You still have the option to turn off scoring or leaderboards if you just want it to be a wellness app — now dubbed Singadelic. You can enjoy the beauty of the app visuals and the music, but you don’t have to be scored as you play.
“You get the wellness benefits. And so the world just visually rewards you. And that’s for people who aren’t gamers and don’t really want to be judged, or don’t care if they’re getting better. They’re just doing it for fun,” Wilson said.
Wilson added, “But the Song Hero mode has the more familiar scoring for people who want leaderboards and see that they’re improving and track their progress, things like that. That was the big pivot.”
Players can also purchase the music a la carte, rather than subscribe to the whole library. That caused Realize Music to have to renegotiate its music licenses with the music labels. That was a lot of work as it meant Wilson had to talk to different divisions at the record companies.
Realize Music: Sing will be available on the Meta Quest Store this November, with flexible ways to join in: preview songs for free, unlock tracks or albums permanently, or subscribe for unlimited access. Subscriptions will launch at an introductory price of $9.99 per month for the first three months, then continue at the regular rate of $14.99 per month or $119.99 per year. There will also be individual track pricing.
Future plans
If this version is successful, the team will consider taking it to other platforms like the PC or other VR platforms. Porting will likely be easy as the game is built on Unreal Engine.
Something that might work are the smart glasses that use bone conduction to convey music into your ears, without using headphones or earpods. But Wilson isn’t planning to get the app approved as a medical treatment.
“I don’t feel like we need to call the game therapeutic. We will speak to subscription wellness customers. Singing is great for you. It’s very easy to Google the top 10 or 20 health benefits of singing, and you’ll get them. But Wilson doesn’t believe the work involved of getting FDA approval is worth the benefits.
Wilson and his wife recently performed in front of 550 ticket-buying customers in San Diego a couple of weeks ago through a community choir they joined.
“I’ve experienced the benefits that we’re talking about,” Wilson said.
In that way, the company is a family affair, with one of Wilson’s daughters, Halen, helping with marketing.