Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom

Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality
Developer	Bandai Namco Filmworks, Atlas V, Albyon
Publisher	Astrea
Platform	Meta Horizon OS, PlayStation 5
Device	Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, Meta Quest Pro, PlayStation VR2
Operating System	Meta Horizon OS, PlayStation 5 system software
Type	Experience
Genre	Action, Shooter, Narrative
Input Device	Tracked Motion Controllers
Play Area	Seated
Game Mode	Single Player
Release Date	4 October 2024 JST (Meta Quest); 21 November 2025 (PlayStation VR2)
Price	US$17.99; 2,800 JPY in Japan
App Store	Meta Horizon Store, PlayStation Store
Website	https://www.gundam.info/feature/silverphantom

See also: VR Apps and Cinematic VR

Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom is an interactive virtual reality feature film set in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam anime franchise. It was produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks and the French immersive studio Atlas V, with planning credited to Sunrise and distribution by Astrea, and it is directed by Kenichi Suzuki. The viewer follows the story as a pilot in Argent Keil, a mercenary organization aligned with neither the Earth Federation nor Zeon, in the year U.C. 0096.

The film was released on the Meta Quest Store for Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S on 4 October 2024 (Japan time), and on PlayStation VR2 on 21 November 2025. Alongside the main story it includes mixed reality content with a Battle Mode and a Gallery Mode. It competed in the Venice Immersive section of the 81st Venice International Film Festival in 2024 and was one of ten works selected for the VR Works competition at the 2025 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Reviewed 7 October 2026. Release dates, prices, platforms, staff and cast credits, MR modes, festival selections, announcement details and press impressions checked against Bandai Namco Filmworks news posts, La Biennale, Annecy, PlayStation Store, Meta Horizon Store, UploadVR, Road to VR and Anime News Network. About review dates.

Story

The film is set in U.C. 0096, three years after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. According to the Venice Immersive programme, the Earth Federation hires an independent mercenary organization to track down a former Commander who has joined a group of Neo Zeon remnants called the Sleeves. The viewer takes the role of the protagonist, a member of that mercenary group, Argent Keil.

Mobile suits shown in the film include the Delta Zayin and the Jagd Weise, and the vGundam from Char's Counterattack also appears.

Gameplay

Most scenes play out like a film, in 360-degree 6DoF environments with cel-shaded visuals that match the look of the anime. The story switches between third-person scenes and short first-person interactive segments. After a 45-minute hands-on with the opening at Venice Immersive 2024, UploadVR described brief interactive moments such as shooting meteors in space, grappling into the mech and battles. It reported that these moments are scripted, that there is no free locomotion (one segment moves the player automatically along a corridor while holding a rail), and that a visual frame of reference such as a cockpit is usually present while moving. While piloting, the player moves by pulling two levers back and forth with the left and right hands; in combat the left lever controls the shield and the right lever fires a laser, aimed with the headset. Road to VR described it as a "VR film hybrid" that combines a two-hour real-time rendered narrative with short first-person gameplay segments.

Mixed reality content

The release also contains MR content, in which mobile suits appear within the user's own space. In Battle Mode the user fights incoming enemies; in Gallery Mode the user visits a dock where mobile suits are stored and can examine them up close. Six mobile suits are exclusive to the MR content: the Sazabi, the ZSSA (Sleeves), the Gundam, the Zaku II, the Zeong and the Unicorn Gundam Perfectibility. The MR features were first announced during the UploadVR Summer Showcase in June 2024.

Development

Bandai Namco Filmworks announced the project at its panel at Anime NYC in November 2023, as a co-production with Atlas V for Meta Quest. At the reveal, Atlas V co-founder Pierre Zandrowicz said: "This is not a game, nor is it just a narrative experience." UploadVR noted that earlier Gundam VR experiences had been location-based attractions in Japan.

The VR studio Albyon also worked on the project: Road to VR lists it as one of the three developers, and Albyon's Gaël Chaize is credited as technical artist director. La Biennale di Venezia lists Bandai Namco Filmworks, Atlas V and Meta as production companies, and the countries of production as France, Japan and the United States.

Role	Credit
Planning	Sunrise
Original series	Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino (Mobile Suit Gundam)
Director	Kenichi Suzuki
Screenplay	Ryoji Sekinishi
Character design	Tsukasa Kotobuki
Mechanical design	Mika Akitaka
Music	Yoshiya Ikeda
Sound director	Sadayoshi Fujino
Interactive designer	Ferdinand Dervieux
Technical artist director	Gaël Chaize
CG animation director	Naoki Yamamoto
Production	Atlas V, Bandai Namco Filmworks
Distribution	Astrea
Theme song	"ACROSS THE WORLD" by Shoko Nakagawa

The Japanese voice cast includes Yuuki Shin and Atsumi Tanezaki as the male and female versions of the protagonist, Mariya Ise as Babia Lena, Yukari Oribe as Mabel Lena, Yuki Kaji as Fixzi Fix, Kikuko Inoue as Azami Meggineh and Hiroya Egashira as Joff Idiy. The film is available in Japanese and English, and can be watched with either Japanese or English audio.

Release

In an announcement dated 24 August 2024 (Japan time), Bandai Namco Filmworks gave the worldwide release date and said pre-orders were being accepted on the Meta Quest Store, at a pre-order price of 2,500 JPY against a regular price of 2,800 JPY (tax included). It launched at 10:00 a.m. PDT on 3 October 2024, which was 2:00 p.m. JST on 4 October. The pre-order announcement listed Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3; the launch announcement added Meta Quest 3S.

Platform	Release date	Notes
Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S	3 October 2024 (PDT) / 4 October 2024 (JST)	Meta Quest Store; 2,800 JPY in Japan
PlayStation VR2 (PlayStation 5)	21 November 2025	PlayStation Store, published by ASTREA SAS; US$17.99

The PlayStation Store listing gives a seated play style, requires the PS VR2 Sense controllers and headset vibration, and lists English and Japanese voice with on-screen text in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. It carries an ESRB rating of Everyone 10+ for fantasy violence. As of 7 October 2026, the Meta Horizon Store listing is priced at US$17.99, names Astrea as publisher, lists the genres Shooter, Action and Narrative, and lists Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3 and Quest 3S as supported devices.

Festivals

Festival	Year	Section
81st Venice International Film Festival	2024	Venice Immersive, Competition
Annecy International Animation Film Festival	2025	VR Works, Official Selection in competition

At Venice, which ran from 28 August to 7 September 2024, producers from Bandai Namco Filmworks and Atlas V and technical artist director Gaël Chaize of Albyon took part in a panel discussion about the work, and a video introduction by Suzuki was screened. Annecy's 2025 selection committee shortlisted ten immersive works for the VR Works competition out of 110 submissions from 43 countries.

Reception

In a hands-on article published the day after launch, Scott Hayden of Road to VR wrote that the visuals were immersive but that the restrictive interactive segments undercut the sense of embodiment. He criticized frequent camera changes that drop the viewer "unceremoniously" back into a first-person view, and a jumpy frame rate that made subtitles hard to read. He wrote that the replay value comes from an optional MR wave shooter, called the MR gallery of mechs "cool", and concluded that the experience would mostly appeal to dedicated Gundam fans. UploadVR, after its Venice hands-on, called the decision to market the work as an interactive movie "smart", found the interactivity "disappointingly limited" and described the experience as "carried by its narrative". As of 7 October 2026 the Meta Horizon Store listing shows an average user rating of 3.9 out of 5 from 421 ratings.

See also

• Cinematic VR
• Mixed Reality