Entertainment One buys virtual reality games and film maker

Entertainment One, still abuzz with rumours about a potential takeover by ITV or others, completed its own acquisition on Thursday, buying the remaining half of Canadian interactive content studio Secret Location, a specialist in the burgeoning virtual reality space.

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The FTSE 250 company, which is listed in London but headquartered in Canada, snapped up the remaining 50% stake in the digital studio business, having made its initial £2.5m cash investment in May 2014.

Entertainment One will pay for the stake with the issue of 1.7m new shares, to be listed on Friday.

In 2015, Secret Location won an Emmy Award for 'The Sleepy Hollow: VR Experience' created to promote the second season of the hit Fox TV series, which was the first time a virtual reality project has ever been awarded any major entertainment award.

Secret Location also won three Webby Awards, including two for its innovative 'OrchestraVR' project with the prestigious LA Philharmonic and a Peabody-Facebook Future of Media Awards for 'Ebola OutbreakVR' with PBS.

The two companies have begun developing a TV adaptation of Secret Location's award-winning original web-series 'Whatever, Linda', while in the gaming industry Secret Location's development pipeline includes working on Blasters of the Universe virtual reality game designed to be accessible through Oculus Rift, HTV Vive and the Steam network, as well as Sony PlaystationVR.

Work is also underway on a number of projects including digital extensions for CBC's landmark project 'The Story of Us' and 'Wild Canadian Year', also with CBC, as well as a significant VR documentary for General Electric, as well as developing a large original serialised virtual reality project, 'Insomnia', with Stephen King, as well as an original VR and linear episodic format 'Halcyon', for IPF and SyFy.

Last October Secret Location also launched DitchTV, a new way of consuming YouTube content by combining channel surfing with interactive controls and an intuitive interface.