VR sports

The growth of Esports competitions is also creating significant competition within the viewership of physical sports. As more people participate in Esports and the prize money increases (with €10 million up for grabs at the Fortnite World Cup), Esports are becoming more interesting to watch. The rising popularity of the streaming platform 'Twitch' also brings in 100 million viewers per month. But how does virtual reality come into the world of sports viewing? And how can VR be used to offer viewers a different way to watch sports? In this blog, we will explain four examples of VR in the sports world.

While most people prefer to sit further away from their screens, VR can bring about a change in how we watch sports and attract more new viewers. By capturing matches with a 360-degree camera, the audience can view and experience the game in a completely different way. This provides a much more immersive viewing experience via mobile or VR headset. The possibilities of VR allow viewers to see what they want to see or, for example, to follow their favourite player closely. The American company 'NextVR' is one of the most successful companies offering such services by broadcasting the most popular competitions like the NFL, NBA, and Wimbledon via VR. Another major player, Turner Sports, is also collaborating with Intel to offer similar services via VR.

By placing small 360-degree cameras on the bodies of athletes, viewers can enhance their experience by watching the game from the athlete's perspective. FirstVision (a Spanish startup) uses this technique to capture basketball games in the Euroleague. So, in the not-too-distant future, it will no longer be necessary to go to an arena to see your favourite players play; you can just put on a VR headset and find yourself in the middle of the game next to Cristiano Ronaldo!

By placing small 360-degree cameras on the bodies of athletes, viewers can enhance their experience by watching the game from the athlete's perspective. FirstVision (a Spanish startup) uses this technique to capture basketball games in the Euroleague. So, in the not-too-distant future, it will no longer be necessary to go to an arena to see your favourite players play; you can just put on a VR headset and find yourself in the middle of the game next to Cristiano Ronaldo!

Besides watching VR, viewers can be the athlete themselves by immersing themselves in the VR world. Thanks to today's virtual technology, sports games have become more realistic than ever. Ten years ago, Wii Sports allowed people to bowl or play tennis in the comfort of their living room. Now, VR can offer much more and more realistic experiences. The content is much more engaging and interactive. All VR platforms often have their own gaming platform where you can download various VR sports games. VR Sports Challenge and BoxVR are good examples of games that offer a realistic and fun experience for the player. With the rise of VR, new games are being developed at a rapid pace, so we expect to add many new (sports) games in the coming months.

Virtual Reality can provide significant benefits for training, both from the athlete's and the coach's perspective. The key to modern training techniques for athletes is to capture and understand the player's movements as much as possible. With VR, coaches can observe their team members from different angles to better understand their behaviour, while athletes can also observe their performances from real matches and training sessions. Another great way to use VR in sports is for indoor training. For sports like baseball, basketball, and tennis, athletes can practice in simulations and adjust their technique based on system feedback. Companies like 'StriVR' and 'Eon Sports' have created solutions that can train both amateur and professional athletes. Many professional teams in the NFL, NBA, and NCAA have already adopted VR in their training. Virtual Reality training also has the advantage of being a very suitable way to mentally train the player for a sport without physically affecting the body.

Just as coaches can use VR to train athletes, they can also use VR to scout potential athletes. With this capability, coaches can bring scouting to a larger scale by observing athletes' performances through game simulations or VR platforms. Soon, we might not see scouts attending tournaments anymore. Instead, they will observe athletes from their office using VR.