The NFL has announced a new partnership with sports tech company StatusPRO to create a brand new annual NFL VR game. The new series will focus on immersive football experiences and will be released for the Meta Quest 2 and PlayStation VR headsets.
What do we know about the new NFL VR game?
Back in 2020, EA conceded that the NFL was free to partner up with other studios to make "non-simulation" games. It looks like that definition extends to the VR space, because now, the NFL has partnered up with tech company StatusPRO in order to create what the two companies call "an NFL-licensed VR simulation gaming title". The new game will provide a first-person experience, allowing you to get into the helmet of a pro NFL player and experience life as a professional athlete.
The NFL and StatusPRO are aiming to leverage the latter's technology in order to create a gaming experience "similar to [your] favorite football players". According to StatusPRO president Andrew Hawkins, the game will be a recreation of what it feels like to play football at NFL level, while co-founder Troy Jones says the game will "democratize" the professional athlete experience. It sounds like if you're looking to put yourself in the shoes of your favorite NFL player, you'll soon be able to do so.
When is the new NFL VR game release date coming?
We don't yet know when we're going to get a release date for this new NFL VR game. All we know right now is that this info, along with more about how the game will work, is coming "at a later date". Apparently, the new game will be an annual franchise (but not that kind of franchise) similar to the way Madden is released. At the outset, it'll come to Meta Quest 2 (which is the new name for the Oculus Quest 2) and PlayStation VR. There's no word yet on whether it'll come to other headsets or whether it'll also be released for the upcoming PSVR 2.
Naturally, this doesn't mean the end of the Madden NFL series; the two will coexist, it looks like. Unfortunately, the latest Madden entry is currently sitting at a "Mixed" rating on Steam, possibly thanks in part to missing next-gen features that are present on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (as well as the usual criticisms of stagnation and excessive microtransactions). Despite this (and controversies of its own), the previous year's Madden NFL 21 debuted to the best sales in the series' history, so it doesn't look like EA's Madden series is going anywhere anytime soon. We'll bring you more on the new NFL VR game as soon as we get it.