Have you ever wanted to attend the World Cup, but did not have the time/money/energy to do so? Well, thanks to virtual reality (otherwise known as “VR”), you are now able to view a world cup game in the comfort of your own home! (Imagine telling yourself five years ago that this would be a thing?)

For the first time ever, you can watch a live broadcast of the World Cup match using a VR headset device. The only extra accesory you need is WiFi.

As soon as I found out about this experience, I absolutely had to try it out. And let me tell you – it was actually pretty cool.

The device I had used was the Oculus Go, mainly because I received one when I had attended the F8 Conference back in May and, surprisingly, haven’t used it at all (yea yea I know – such a long wait). I found out pretty late that Facebook was hosting a few live events on a VR app called Oculus Venues, and I was able to catch the last match they were showing – England vs Panama. However, if you want to watch the World Cup in VR, you are not only limited to Oculus Venues – you can also watch it on other apps, such as

• Fox Sports VR (You will have to login with your pay-TV credentials though)
• BBC Sports
• Telemundo’s Deportes VR (for Spanish speakers)

So I set my alarm to wake me up at 7:30 am EST, and tried it out!

Setting up the Oculus Venues app

To give you a background – Oculus Venues is an app that allows you to view live events (shows, concerts, sports, etc) with other people. You can view these events either with complete strangers or friends who also have a VR headset.

In order to fully access Oculus Venues, first you need to set up your avatar (your hair, face shape, skin color, etc – kinda like the Sims). Then, you choose which event you want to watch. Now of course, the event has to currently be going on.

Settings for the World Cup Live Stream

(Please note – after setting up my Avatar, I was NOT able to take any pictures of the actual game 🙁 )

After I chose the World Cup option, I was able to adjust different settings to my liking – such as if I wanted my microphone to be on or off, if I wanted to hear other people talking, and if I wanted to watch the World Cup by myself or with others. You also had the option to invite friends who also have an Oculus Go. I chose to have my microphone off, to hear others, and to watch the game with others.

The seats were located in, I’m assuming, the “nosebleed” section of the stadium, which was great because I was able to view the whole field. There were also two wide screen views on the top left and top right corners that showed a closer look at what was going on in the field. Even though you had the option to change your seat, your view does not get closer to the field if you move down a row.

Now to answer the question you most likely came here for – did it feel like I was actually at the World Cup?

Not 100%. But mainly because I was in my bed and in my pajamas, and not in a seat outside. So while I did not feel 100% “immersed” in the stadium, let me just say this – it felt pretty close to the real thing.

One thing that really impressed me was that you can see real life stadium attendees on the left and right side of the stadium. You can also see the attendees who were sitting more closer to the field in front of you. However I could not clearly see any attendees who were directly in front of me on the other side of the stadium. My section was filled with avatars, aka other Oculus Go users who were watching the game.

Also, the soccer players were playing the game in “real time” – meaning there weren’t any glitches or lags or random “stops” at all. So it didn’t feel digital at all – it looked like you were watching a soccer match in person.

Here are some other moments that happened that made it feel like a real experience:

1. Remember how I said you get to watch the game with others? Shortly after the second half, a guy (Oculus User) in my row tried to start a “wave”. I think I may have ruined it though since I was checking out my settings.
2. In real life, a soccer player from Panama had jumped into the crowd to meet the attendees. On TV, you can see the action close up. On the Oculus Go, the action was happening right in front of us on the bottom right hand corner.
3. Once the game was over, the TV mainly showed the faces of the soccer players on England’s team after their huge win. However, what the TV did not show was the Panama team huddled up in a circle in the middle of the the field. 
4. It was also pretty cool to “cheer” along with others whenever someone scored a goal, and also hear what others from different countries thought about both teams.

Any cons?

The biggest con was the battery life. It drained pretty fast when I was watching the game. However, I had just taken it out of the box so I didn’t get to charge it to 100% beforehand.

Another con is that you need a Facebook account in order to access Oculus Venues. This personally doesn’t bother me, however it might bother others. Though I do wish there was an option to just use my email address instead of my Facebook account.

And the third con was that I was not able to take any pictures of what I was viewing. Hence the lack of pictures in this article.

All in all, the World Cup VR experience exceeded my expectations.

So question for you – would you ever watch a World Cup match in VR?