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Sep 02, 2023

Meta And UFC Team To Bring MMA Fights To Horizon Worlds VR

Horizon Worlds, the VR universe that even Meta's own employees supposedly aren't interested in using, is getting its own UFC experience. That's according to an announcement from Meta, which says it

Horizon Worlds, the VR universe that even Meta's own employees supposedly aren't interested in using, is getting its own UFC experience. That's according to an announcement from Meta, which says it has expanded its partnership with the UFC to make this addition a reality. The move apparently aims to blend the real world with the virtual one, enabling MMA fans to watch UFC fights near a VR version of the Octagon. The company presents this as a social experience in which users will be able to "meet" with their friends in the virtual environment to watch the game, which will be presented with a 180-degree field of view in 4K resolution.

In addition to getting up close and personal with the Octagon, Meta says its Quest users will be able to unlock unspecified rewards by playing both multiplayer and single-player games related to this team-up. Though some of the details are still absent at the moment, Meta says you'll get a shot at the UFC Hall of Famer designation by participating. The environment itself is called Xtadium, and there are already multiple UFC fights on the roster for streaming in Horizon Worlds, including the LFA 164 fight that'll happen later this week.

Of course, you could always just watch these UFC fights on an ordinary TV or your mobile device, and it would arguably be a more comfortable experience compared to having a VR headset strapped to your face. The big selling point here is that friends can get together, in a manner of speaking, and watch the fight as if they were sitting near each other despite the distance between them. Meta says it will be possible for Quest owners to talk with each other in real-time within the Xtadium. This is a broader launch of what was essentially a test involving similar viewing sessions that kicked off in 2022.

"It's one thing to watch a fight on a flat screen, but being virtually cage-side, feeling the proximity of the fighters and the raw energy of the match up is an entirely different experience," YBVR co-founder Sebastian Amengual explained as part of Meta's announcement. Just how close do VR viewers get to the action? Meta says you'll see more or less what the camera operators see during the fight, which makes sense given how the experience is captured for streaming. If this sounds exciting to you, there's more good news: Meta indicates that its work with YBVR could result in other similar immersive VR sports experiences in Horizon Worlds in the future, though no specific plans were revealed.