Virtual reality continues to be high up on the news agenda this week and the latest announcement is now coming through from NextVR. This is a company who specializes in live events and has already put together virtual reality experiences for a number of events including the likes of Golf tournaments, NBA games and even Boxing bouts. However, this latest announcement sees NextVR teaming up with live event promoter, Live Nation, to bring a more audio and live concert experience to virtual reality consumers.
According to the details, this new project between NextVR and Live Nation will not be a one-off event and instead will see the two companies hosting hundreds of concerts and events. Ones which will all be accessible through virtual reality headsets and offering those tuning in a much more authentic and closer to the action experience. At the moment, specifics on which of the bands, artists or otherwise, who will be streamed in virtual reality has not been revealed nor has the timeline or schedule, but the first of the events is said to be taking place this summer, with a more robust schedule expected to be released later in the year.
In terms of VR compatible, at the moment the announcement only seems to detail access for owners of either the Oculus Rift or the Samsung Gear VR, with the live event content being accessible through the NextVR app. However, the company is said be planning on expanding the compatibility of headsets and virtual reality platforms in 2017. Which is presumed to include the likes of the HTC Vive, although no details on HTC’s virtual reality offering were provided as of yet. What does make the announcement even more interesting is that NextVR and Live Nations are reportedly planning on making all of the content free at first. They do have plans for a pay-per-view model which will eventually be rolled out, but that is to come later. In the meantime, at launch and until another announcement comes through, virtual reality consumers will be able to watch and enjoy the fruits of this partnership for free.