Virtual Reality and Sports: The Rise of Mixed, Augmented, Immersive, and Esports Experiences

Abstract

In this chapter, Miah, Fenton, and Chadwick examine how sports have become increasingly intertwined with the trajectory of the media innovation industries and how this extends particularly to the realm of computer-generated imagery and game playing. They consider how virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and extended reality are being integrated into the sports industries and discuss the innovation culture that operates around these experiences. They focus on how new, digitally immersive sports experiences transform the athletic experience for participants and audiences and create new kinds of experience that, in turn, transform the sporting world. Further, they analyze what this means for the long-term future of sports.