The NFL has announced a partnership with StatusPRO to produce the first officially licensed football VR game, which is in development for PlayStation VR and Meta Quest devices. This serves as the next step in the NFL’s continued efforts to expand its gaming experiences. Of course, the organization remains partnered with Electronic Arts for the ever-popular Madden NFL franchise, providing football fans with a yearly sim experience like no other.

In 2020, the league inked a deal with NBA 2K publisher 2K Games for a non-simulation football series. Such a release will mark 2K’s first gridiron-based title since NFL 2K5 hit store shelves in 2004. The new title will not arrive during fiscal year 2022 as previously planned, however. During a May 2021 earnings call, Take-Two Interactive President Karl Slatoff told investors the non-simulation game now boasts a release window beyond March 31, 2022. Neither 2K Games nor the NFL has offered an update on the matter since then. Regardless of delays with other partners, it seems the National Football League has even bigger plans for the license in the years ahead.

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The NFL’s next licensed video game will come in the form of its first official VR football title. On NFL Communications (via Engadget), the league announced the news in conjunction with StatusPRO, a sports technology and gaming startup that utilizes “real-time player data to create authentic extended reality experiences.” Details remain scant at present, yet the two companies confirmed the project will eventually launch across PlayStation VR and Meta Quest virtual reality devices. The goal centers on allowing players to get as close to the gridiron as possible without actually stepping foot on the field. According to the NFL’s and StatusPRO’s joint press release, such an endeavor will manifest “through a first-person 3D immersive experience.”

An NFL-licensed VR football game certainly sounds intriguing. However, without a frame of reference in terms of what the experience will entail, there’s currently no way of knowing how it will work in practice. But experimentation is the spice of life for now, especially when considering the way in which VR games continue to evolve.

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VR in gaming often seems as if it perpetually sits on the sidelines until the rare Half-Life: Alyx comes along. The likes of Meta and Sony aim to change this by doubling down on and pushing the envelope with VR hardware. Sony, in particular, has its PlayStation VR 2 set to hit stores somewhere down the line, promising a device packed with eye-tracking and 4K capabilities. It should be interesting to see how the NFL’s VR game and others make use of such technology.

The untitled NFL VR game is in development for PlayStation VR and Meta Quest.

Source: NFL Communications (via Engadget)

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Brianna Reeves
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A Senior Writer on Screen Rant’s Game News team, Brianna Reeves graduated from Sam Houston Statue University in 2018 with a Master of Arts in English Literature. Brianna’s enthusiasm for games dates back to Mortal Kombat Trilogy on PlayStation 1, along with classics like MediEvil, Syphon Filter, and THPS2. However, Red Dead Redemption reinvigorated her love for the medium; hopefully, that passion reflects in the work she has contributed to Comic Book Resources, PlayStation LifeStyle, GVMERS, and Screen Rant.

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