Back in 2022, the Council of Europe’s ART (Analysis and Research Team) published a paper on the Metaverse - Virtual World, Real Challenges. ART begins their paper with admitting that the role of the Metaverse and its impact on society was hard to assess at the time of writing in 2021-2022. A few years later in 2024, we see new (technological) developments around the Metaverse but it still remains hard to assess its potential role and impact on society in the years to come. ART (p. 2, 2022) states it as follows:

We do not have a clear idea of the full range of potential opportunities offered by the Metaverse, but they could include employment, education, healthcare, economic development as well as political influence. […] It has been estimated that by 2026, 25% of the population will spend at least one hour a day in the Metaverse for work, shopping, education, social interaction and entertainment.

ART describes the metaverse as an “immersive and constant virtual 3D world where people interact through an avatar to enjoy entertainment, make purchases and carry out transactions with crypto-assets, or work without leaving their seat.”. The metaverse is furthermore described as being accessible through virtual reality (VR) headset, glasses or any other dedicated devices. This definition is at first sight not related to sports. More interesting for sports however, is the argument that the Metaverse will be an online “phygital world”, where physical and virtual realities merge. Experiences such as sport could, in the future, therefore span both the real and virtual world synchronously. How such “phygital experiences” will take place, using which technology and to which extent, still remain open questions that deserve academic attention.

What can the Metaverse mean for Sports and Virtual Sports? #

I agree with ART’s claim that the development of the Metaverse is highly dependant upon the technological developments within the sector. For sports, this is also the case as I am convinced that the feasibility and attractiveness of practising sports highly relies on the extent that the technology allows for it. For example, is it lightweight and portable, is it sweat-resistant, can it accurately measure and translate physical movements,…?

New technological developments to a possible Metaverse (and practising sports therein) are for example Apple’s Vision Pro or Meta’s Meta Quest (both mixed reality headsets). YouTuber and tech journalist Ray Maker recently highlighted the possibilities of using the Vision Pro to do indoor and outdoor cycling. It turns out that while the technological advancements are great in terms of sweat resistance, breathability and immersiveness, its features to practice outdoor cycling are still limited. Even though these test were specifically for cycling, we can for now assume that other outdoor physical active sports are still difficult or even impossible to practice using such mixed reality headsets. For now, the synchronous phygital world that could enhance our sporting experience, still seems unachievable. The good news is though that technological developments seem to go in the right direction to make virtual sports a reality (😉). For example, the Meta Quest focuses more on phygital experiences. Yet, the translation of traditional sports into a virtual variant are still at a primitive and early stage, and sometimes resemble more of an Exergame rather than a virtual sport.

It feels appropriate here to highlight the definition of virtual sports and why we aim to set out the name of “virtual sports”. In essence, we see virtual sports as a radical service innovation within the sports that can disrupt the notions of how both leisure and elite sports are practised and organised. To this end, Virtual Sports combine (1) the technological mediated nature of eSports, (2) the institutionalised and physical nature of sports, and (3) the gamified nature of Exergames. This unique combination sets Virtual Sports apart from eSports and Exergames that therefore deserves separate attention. While VR or AR are definitely not a prerequisite to talk about Virtual Sports (e.g., playing Zwift on a TV), the Metaverse can and will play its role in combining all aspects of different nature in a phygital world. Yet it remains unclear how and to what extent. A more detailed explanation and examples of Virtual Sports are given on the about page.

opportunities and challenges of the Metaverse for (Virtual) Sports #

The metaverse comes with opportunities but also challenges for the sports sector. Below, we want to give offer some thought provoking questions as to where future research could focus on 💡.

Further reading #

Analysis and Research Team (ART) - Council of the European Union. (2022). Metaverse: Virtual world, real challenges. Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2860/432862