Meta
Meta Quest
- Immersive Experiences
- VFX
- Original Content
When Meta set out to reimagine how audiences experience technology, they turned to Preymaker to create a fully immersive virtual environment for the Meta Gaming Keynote. Directed by Erica Eng of Strike Anywhere and filmed on the Volume stage at NantStudios, the project showcased Preymaker’s mastery of Unreal Engine and real-time production. The team designed a monumental yet serene digital space—part architectural marvel, part cinematic stage—serving as both the keynote backdrop and a new Oculus Home environment. Hand-drawn concept art evolved into a photoreal world running at 90 FPS, where physical and virtual seamlessly converged. The result was a dynamic, cross-platform experience that elevated Meta’s presentation and embodied the company’s vision of “immersive, true-to-life virtual experiences.”
Preymaker was invited to collaborate on Meta’s Gaming Keynote for the Oculus Quest VR platform and immersive experiences. Meta recognized Preymaker’s expertise in Unreal Engine and reputation for pushing the boundaries in Real Time.
Creating the Totally Immersive Environment for the Meta Gaming Keynote
The keynote was directed by Erica Eng of Strike Anywhere.
Preymaker designed and built the entire virtual environment for the keynote presentation. Providing fully interactive Unreal Engine scenes. This space not only served as the immersive backdrop for the presenter on the Volume stage but was also developed to become a new Oculus Home environment available on the Quest Home Screen in the VR headset. Preymaker partnered closely with NantStudios to fine-tune the space for Volume production and worked alongside Meta throughout the editing/online process to deliver a seamless hour-and-a-half keynote.
We approached this challenge as both an architectural brief and a cinematic exercise designing not just a set, but an inhabitable environment. The intent was to create a space that felt airy, monumental, serene, futuristic and flooded with natural light.
Architecture Meets Cinema in the Volume
These core qualities defined the design philosophy, ensuring that the environment would embody both form and function in equal measure. Rather than competing with the keynote itself, the space was conceived to enhance and elevate it, acting as a stage where architecture and experience become inseparable.
Traditional hand-drawn concepts played a crucial role at the outset, allowing us to visualize how these qualities could translate into 3D form. Sketching by hand provided the clarity needed to anchor design decisions before moving into digital development, bridging the tactile process of architectural ideation with the technical demands of virtual production.
On set in Unreal Engine
From there, we built the space inside Unreal Engine, leveraging real-time rendering and advanced optimization tools to achieve a stable 90 FPS performance on the virtual production wall. Live-action stage cameras were directly linked to the Unreal virtual cameras. As the cameras moved physically in the stage, the perspective of the digital environment changed creating seamless, photoreal integration between the physical and digital worlds. This workflow allowed performers and audiences alike to engage with an environment that felt immediate, authentic and visually striking.
The space was further optimized for cross-platform use, ensuring scalability beyond the production stage. It was adapted for the Meta Quest headset, transforming it into an immersive landing space that users within the broader virtual world can also enjoy. This adaptability means the environment functions fluidly across platforms and applications whether as a cinematic backdrop, a real-time interactive world or an immersive VR destination.
The Meta keynote reached millions of viewers, sharing groundbreaking AI glasses and VR innovations such as Discord coming to Quest VR headsets in 2026.
Mission Accomplished
Preymaker’s virtual environment was the perfect backdrop for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s unveiling of a new feature that allows users of Quest headset to scan a room in a few minutes and explore it. He called it “immersive, true-to-life virtual experiences.”