Samsung Brings 4 Fans To Football Game Thanks To Gear VR

In Portugal and to Portuguese people all over the world, the game of football is an important and integral part of their culture and lives. More than a game, football is something for the Portuguese to rally around and connect through, coming together as a culture. To those outside of the country for whatever reason they may be out abroad, football serves as a way to stay connected to their homeland, something to hold on to. For four Portuguese nationals who couldn’t attend a friendly Euro 2016 game leading up to the UEFA championship, Samsung decided to step in, with a little help from the Football Portuguese Federation, and put them closer to that treasured part of their culture than they had ever been through the magic of virtual reality.

Using Gear VR setups, four participants in various parts of the world got to step onto the field and be among the players during the game and even before and after. The four lucky fans that Samsung picked got to see the action closer than anybody when Samsung livestreamed the event to their Gear VR units simultaneously. They all saw the same thing going on at the same time in an incredibly realistic view. The technology behind the Gear VR and the VR content meant that the fans enjoyed a completely immersive viewpoint with a high resolution, high enough that any distortion or bare pixels were likely quite difficult to notice. Naturally, they got lost in the moment. The feeling of belonging was so great, in fact, that all four participants, in a moment of heartwarming patriotism, stood with the players before the game and sang the national anthem of Portugal in perfect unison.

This demonstration, according to Samsung, was aimed at “proving that “impossible” is not an option when technology is involved.” Though humanitarian and quite touching in nature, the demonstration clearly served its purpose. Four fans, completely taken aback, can attest to the fact that VR is the future of media consumption and that Samsung is one of the key players in the VR space, as things stand right now.