At the Vive Ecosystem Conference (VEC) in Shenzhen today, HTC announced new VR initiatives in partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) and McLaren Racing, the Formula One racing team.
Looking to take advantage of the growing baseball trend in China, HTC is partnering with the American baseball league to bring two MLB fan engagement initiatives to China, including the Chinese-language reality TV show Perfect Pitch to the Tencent video network, and a Baseball Park roadshow to 10 major cities across the country.
HTC also announced a long-term strategic partnership with Formula One team McLaren to jointly produce VR products and VR/AR content. McLaren and HTC will co-launch a special edition McLaren-branded Vive headset.
McLaren is also slated to release a VR eSports racing competition with HTC as an official VR partner, using HTC Vive Pro as their official device for the competition. The competition is said to “search the world for people who will ultimately become part of the McLaren racing team,” the companies say in a press release.
The announcement comes on the heels of a few important updates coming to HTC Vive Focus, the company’s standalone 6DOF headset set for international release soon.
Update (11:40 AM ET): Added information on the special edition McLaren-branded HTC Vive headset, announced on McLaren’s blog, and Vive Pro as the official headset of McLare’s VR eSports competition.
