Esports fans, rejoice! Soon, you will not just watch a game from the outside, but be at the very heart of the action thanks to the soon-to-be-launched virtual reality stadium.
Virtex Stadium is the result of a dream: the dream of a team of esports organizers and competitors who wanted a more immersive and exciting game experience. They used their VR developing skills to create a new virtual world, where the user is not just a spectator, but a participant.
Esports has become increasingly popular, as VR consumer devices became more affordable and better performing. With the COVID pandemic putting a stop to real-life sports competitions, many people turned to esports to satisfy their need for watching an engaging game.
However, the viewing experience they could enjoy so far is no match for the real-life experience of going to a sports event. The team at Virtex wanted to make a change in this respect. The idea of creating a virtual stadium came to them as they are also esports competitors and organizers.
For Christoph Ortlepp, COO and Co-Founder of Virtex, realistic esports experiences are crucial for true fans.
“Creating a VR experience for esports feels like a perfect fit, because all of our favourite games are already 3D, whether they are a PC, console or a mobile game. So far we have just been playing and viewing games through 2D screens,” Ortlepp said in a press release. “Imagine you could only ever watch a football match on TV and never live in front of you in a real stadium? This is how we think about esports games and why we believe VR is the perfect platform to view our favourite events.”
The concept envisioned and developed by Virtex is simple: esports fans should be able to experience events as if they were happening in real life. They will be able to get together with their friends, go to the center of the stadium, and see the action in 3D.
Alternately, users can watch the games as a hologram in the Lobby of the virtual reality stadium. This area is designed as a shared, free movement social space, where users’ holograms can interact with each other and comment on the esports event.
Virtex Stadium is proof that people can enjoy life in a virtual world, just as they do in the real world. Since VR devices are becoming more sleek and easy to use, while delivering exceptional audio/video and haptics experiences, consumers feel more comfortable wearing them.
Thus, a virtual stadium can be the go-to place for more than just esports events. In the future, fans may attend virtual concerts, movie premieres, or other entertainment events.
“I am very excited about Virtex Stadium, because watching esports is a perfect fit for social VR,” said Jim Purbrick, Virtex advisor, and previous Oculus Engineering Lead on pioneering social VR applications. “The team has put a lot of effort into realizing that potential for esports communities: building a viewing experience which would not be possible outside VR. Virtex Stadium hints at a future where VR lets us do and see things in ways which were not possible in real life.”
At the moment, the Virtex team is putting together the last details before announcing the first titles available in the virtual stadium. What we know so far is that the stadium will support a maximum of 200 users per server and that there will be as many servers as necessary for the entire audience.
The Open Beta version of Virtex Stadium will be launched later this year on Oculus PC-VR and SteamVR.
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