The National Football League (NFL) and sports tech company StatusPRO, announced at GDC 2022 that they’re partnering to create an NFL-licensed VR game, which is targeting Meta Quest and PSVR.

The game, which is still unnamed, is said to “bring fans closer to the gridiron than ever before, allowing them to play like a professional football player through a first-person 3D immersive experience.”

StatusPRO says the NFL game aims to “recreate what it actually feels like to step out on the field [and let fans] transform into pro athletes.”

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“Virtual reality gaming is rapidly expanding and our partnership with StatusPRO allows us to explore a new immersive version of NFL gaming with support of the two largest VR platforms within this emerging space,” said Joe Ruggiero, SVP, Consumer Products at the NFL. “We are seeing a growing number of fans engaging with VR and we’re excited to launch the first-ever VR gaming title that complements our existing offerings in the market today.”

Founded by former football players Andrew Hawkins and Troy Jones in 2020, StatusPRO combines training data with XR headsets with the aim to appeal to football coaches, players, and also fans. The studio is known for creating the Lamar Jackson Experience, which lets you step into Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s shoes and recreate real highlight plays.

There’s still no word on when the virtual reality NFL game will arrive, or how substantial of an experience it will be in comparison to the NFL’s long-running football series Madden NFL. We’ll be keeping an eye on StatusPro’s twitter and website in the meantime.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.

  • It’ll be waaaaay better than the madden series and score waaaaay higher in reviews…

    Cause its helluva easy to do so :D

  • Tommy

    Is the Mahomes one better than VR Sports Challenge? That one’s pretty fun but is lacking any depth.

  • Tabp

    A football game with no full body tracking. At least that’s not as silly as doing the other kind of football with no foot tracking. Makes sense that the studio would be known for a quarterback game, since three point tracking will necessitate a focus on throwing.

    • jimmy

      Wtf

      • Alexisms

        I’ve no idea, it’s some obscure USA sport.

        • Iown You

          Yeah, so obscure that its top pro league is the highest-grossing sports league on planet earth and sells out stadiums in every country it plays in outside the USA, but go off…

          • Alexisms

            “highest-grossing sports league” citation and figures please. It’s a showbiz sport where the fat crowd are more interested in eating hotdogs etc than watching sport. There’s breaks every 30 seconds as the players in their fancy dress outfits can’t cope with anything more strenuous and ends up going on for hour upon hour. No wonder it’s only played in the USA, home of the shallow.

          • Iown You

            You couldn’t have just looked it up? Are you blocked from Google or any of 100+ other search engines?

            “1. NFL $13 Billion”
            – Money Inc, “Sports that bring in the most money worldwide”

            “1. NFL $13 Billion”
            – Apps Editor, “11 Most Profitable Sports Leagues”

            “1. NFL $16 Billion”
            – Sports Unfold, “Top 10 Richest Sports Leagues In The World Right Now”

            As for your ridiculous critique of gridiron football, I can be equally ridiculous about world football (Soccer): a bunch of feminine little men in man buns running around in cheap uniforms that look like they belong to a junior high school dodgeball team, afraid to make contact and break a nail, barely doing anything but kicking a ball around and not scoring for 90 minutes. Its fans just a bunch of deranged drunken lunatics too busy fighting over the last beer to watch the entirety of a game of that boring sport.

            BTW, gridiron football is played all over the world, the NFL plays in Canada, Europe, and the UK. Canada is another big market for it since it has it own pro league (CFL), and Europe has a pro league now (European League of Football) as does Japan.

            Keep hating.

          • Alexisms

            Thanks for the stats. Just remember when you make claims it’s up to you to supply the actual facts first to back it up, NOT the person asking for proof. Seems there’s a lot of people who like watching fat blokes in shoulder pads, make-up, cycling shorts and crash helmets. A surprisingly popular fetish.

          • Iown You

            Ironic, because you made the claim that the league was “obscure” but you provided NO proof. Thing is, I just looked it up myself to confirm that it is indeed the highest-grossing league on earth, far from obscure. Remember, you don’t have to wait for others to provide proof: in the internet age, you can find most things yourself in mere seconds.

          • Alexisms

            I meant globally obscure as in only one country is interested. It might make the odd journey abroad but just like a band who plays one night at Wembley, yes that’s big but if there was more of an audience it’d be a longer residency. Same with handegg.

          • Iown You

            Handegg, lol. Yeah, you’re definitely a gridiron hater.

            To allude to my earlier facts, gridiron football is played in other countries outside the United States. Canada has its own pro league, Europe has one, Japan has one, and others. And the NFL Wembley situation you’re misunderstanding. The NFL has been playing there every year (except 20 and 21 because of Covid) for what? 15 years? Sells out now every time and even when more than one game is played in the same year. You can’t have “longer residency” with that sport, because then the American fans don’t get to see their teams, that won’t work. They’re doing it right already.

            London WANTS an NFL team, the Jaguars almost moved there, but the NFL wants an expansion team, and they’ll get one sooner or later. Like it or not, gridiron is loved outside the United States and is growing every year.

  • jimmy

    If it doesn’t include multiplayer full game, I’m not interested I played all the football vr games they all exactly identical, you are quarter back in the last few yards, it’s super fucking boring.