The World Cup is due to kick off today, and Oculus announced that US residents will be able to watch select matches of the quadrennial football championship for free in Oculus Venues, the company’s social VR event viewing app for Oculus Go and Gear VR.
Oculus Venues, which first launched with Oculus Go back in early May and later came to Gear VR, lets you watch live events with ‘thousands’ of other fans in the same shared space, which in the case of the 2018 World Cup means a stadium full of VR headset owners watching the sporting event live as it unfolds. Presented by FOX Sports, Oculus Venues will play host to a few select matches. Check out the schedule below:
2018 World Cup Oculus Venues Schedule
- June 17: Germany vs. Mexico – 8:00 am PT (local time)
- June 20: Portugal vs. Morocco – 5:00 am PT (local time)
- June 22: Brazil vs. Costa Rica – 5:00 am PT (local time)
- June 24: England vs. Panama – 5:00 am PT (local time)
Check out Oculus Venues on Gear VR and Oculus Go (Facebook sign-in required).
For international viewers, a number of regionally accessible apps are available for watching the 2018 World Cup in VR, including coverage from BBC Sports VR (UK), DIRECTV Sports VR (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela), Telemundo Deportes VR (US), ERT VR (Greece), MYTF1 VR (France), and SBS | Optus FIFA World Cup VR (Australia).
You can unlock World Cup coverage through your region’s app by authenticating through your pay TV provider.
If you’re on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, or Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets, the BigScreen app will no doubt play host to informal viewings of World Cup 2018 matches; a handy feature of the peer-to-peer app that lets you stream anything from your monitor to anyone regardless of region.