The world’s first virtual esports stadium hosts its first live event with Echo VR

Software developer Virtex has announced the opening of the world’s first virtual esports stadium, Virtex Stadium. Through VR technology, the entertainment platform provides the experience of watching a real-life tournament from anywhere in the world in the comfort of your home.

Virtex has partnered with the National Esports Professional Association (NEPA) to bring a dedicated Echo VR event to the Virtex Stadium this weekend. The event will take place on December 17 and 18, and some of the top Echo VR esports teams will compete against each other. Spectators will be able to watch and experience the esports competition live in 3D with their friends and cheer on their favorite players.

“For the first time, users can watch an esports event in our virtual stadium together with friends and other fans from around the world. What especially makes this a novelty is that we are displaying the game in real-time in full 3D in front of the crowd. The National Esports Professional Association is hosting the event. They are an esports organizer focused on Virtual Reality games such as Echo VR, which is the first game we feature this way,”

Christoph Ortlepp, the co-founder and COO of Virtex, told Metaverse Post.

The debut with Echo VR is the first step in Virtex’s goal of providing “the most memorable and unique events in gaming.” Meta is the publisher of Echo VR, so the partnership with them enables Virtex to offer the esports experience to the entire Echo VR community.

“They are also the main VR platform and are interested in this experience being accessible to all VR users. We are starting on the PC platform but intend to make the experience accessible on standalone VR headsets in the future,” Ortlepp said of the collaboration.

Virtex Stadium also focuses on social integration; the platform partnered with avatar developer Ready Player Me to allow users to recreate a full-body 3D avatar that would look like themselves.

In addition, Virtex states that maintaining a safe and inclusive environment in its VR stadium is crucial for the company. Therefore, Virtex integrated Modulate’s voice-native moderation software, ToxMod, into the virtual stadium. The tool identifies any type of harmful behavior and quickly removes it from the platform.

VR events give people who can’t physically attend events for financial, health, or other reasons the opportunity to attend their favorite esports tournaments. Fans can watch their favorite live events together with their friends and family in any part of the world.

“This experience hasn’t existed previously, so we had to develop a lot of new technology from the ground up and also define the initial user experience from the ground up. We spoke to everyone in the esports ecosystem to figure this out, including publishers, leagues, teams, players, and fans,”

Ortlepp spoke about the challenges.

Currently, the virtual esports stadium is available in closed beta through Oculus PC-VR on compatible VR headsets. Here you can find more information about Virtex, Virtex Stadium, and how to become a beta tester.