52 NBA games this season will be streamed in immersive 180-degrees to Quest headsets in the US for free.
That means that American owners of Quest 2, Quest Pro, or Quest 3 can virtually sit courtside at no extra cost, through the Xtadium XR sports viewing app. Xtadium also streams NASCAR for free, and UFC fights for Fight Pass subscribers.
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NBA games in Xtadium in immersive 180°
The free NBA games come by way of an ongoing partnership between Meta and the NBA, which sees Quest continue to be “the official VR headset of the NBA”.
Xtadium allows you to teleport between courtside and behind-basket cameras so you can get the best view at all times. You can also virtually sit with friends if they also own a Quest headset, and they’ll appear beside you as their Meta Avatar.
The 180-degree immersive experience is free, but NBA League Pass subscribers can also watch up to 9 games simultaneously in floating 2D virtual TV screens in mixed reality using Xtadium’s new ‘Multi-Game Mode’. In this mode you can also apparently “check out the latest player stats and follow every alert, like, and mention on social media while watching the game.”
Meta is also relaunching its interactive NBA Arena in its Horizon Worlds “metaverse” platform on November 17. This world will stream the NBA games in 180 degrees too, while also letting you “play interactive games like the Slam Dunk Jam and Basket Blitz to show off your skills as you hang out with fellow fans”.
Finally, Meta is selling virtual NBA and WNBA team apparel for your avatar, which you can wear in any app that supports the Meta Avatars SDK, including Xtadium and Horizon Worlds.
