What It's Like Playing VR Football: NFL Pro Era Hands-On

Speaker 1: All right guys, um, new career goal, I'm about to become an NFL quarterback, thanks to the magic of VR. So there's a new VR game. We're getting a demo here. It's called NFL pro era. The first game where you get to be on the field in VR and throw, I have no idea what I'm doing and this is going to be amazing. So maybe they'll make me, uh, uh, a Miami dolphin. What do you say? Eh, I have no idea what I'm in for [00:00:30] NFL pro era is the first ever NFL licensed virtual reality game. And it's worth noting that this is the first major gaming title that was developed by athletes. It costs $30 and it's available to download now on both the meta and PlayStation VR stores. This game is all about playing as the quarterback [00:01:00] and the crew first put me in a room so I could practice the controls. Why Speaker 2: Don't you look at your left hand? Like you're telling the time. Speaker 3: Okay. Speaker 2: You should see a Speaker 1: Plus button. Yeah. Now Speaker 2: You're gonna click. Yep. Speaker 1: The key here is that you have to release the trigger during your throw at just the right time. Oh. That that went to the ground. Okay. That's the training modes. Let you throw balls at various targets. Some are moving targets and you can connect with others online for a game of VR catch Speaker 4: <laugh>. [00:01:30] Hey, Speaker 1: This is awesome. The company behind this game is a sports technology and gaming startup called status pro it's. Based in Miami, I spoke with co-founder Troy Jones, a former division one quarterback. Speaker 5: So we're drilling in just to the quarterback position for this game. Mm-hmm <affirmative> um, as we launch, you know, we'll be an annually released game. So as we launch in the future, we will introduce defense and wide receiver and running back what that work. So again, as Texas balls, we'll [00:02:00] figure it out. But right now you can move around. Like you can hang out in the stadium with your friends, play, catch, play one on ones, run around. So we're actually gonna use that as a prototype center for people to tell us like, Hey, it feels good when I do this, it doesn't feel as good when I do that. Right? So just understanding that this is a long term vision and a long term play. We wanted to introduce something that was compelling and then build on top of it for years to come. Speaker 1: Okay. Time for some real pressure in a two minute game to see how much I can score being from Miami, myself. I had to go with my dolphins, Speaker 3: Our rock stadium. You're in the stadium. Now we're [00:02:30] about to start simple two minute drill, try as many as you can. All okay. Speaker 1: You are Speaker 3: I'm Speaker 1: Against the Packers and Speaker 3: Sarah. So Speaker 1: What you're seeing is gameplay that we recorded from home later and paired it up with my experience. So that way I can help show you what it's like inside the headset. Speaker 3: All right. So now Speaker 1: You're in the huddle. Hey guys, what's Speaker 3: Up? Look down at your left wrist. All right. Do that wristband. Yeah. It's gonna tell you your play right there. Hit that brake button with your virtual finger. Just push it in. You don't even have to, to click. Yeah. There you go. [00:03:00] Okay. All right. So the way that you hand the ball off. Okay. So look to your right and find your running back. You see him, uh, Speaker 6: Uh, Speaker 3: Sure. Okay. So when you snap the ball, you're gonna catch it and then you're gonna place it into his chest and let go of Speaker 6: That trigger. How am I snapping the ball? I just you're Speaker 3: Gonna hit those Speaker 6: Triggers. Right? Okay. Hit Speaker 3: That. And then you hit him again to catch the ball. Hit it, Speaker 6: Take it, take it. Oh, go, go, go. Speaker 3: All right. First down, six yard. Speaker 6: We're cooking. I'm like, take it. Take the ball. Speaker 3: Snap. Look to your left. Look [00:03:30] at your receivers. Look, look good. Look your right. All Speaker 6: Sure. Speaker 3: All so now snap it. Speaker 6: Oh, now what do I do? <laugh> where's that? Where's that's Speaker 3: It was close though. Speaker 6: What am I supposed to be looking for? Who do I throw it to? That's what I'm saying. This is what do Speaker 3: I throw to? You know, it was so hard to be an NFL quarterback. He Speaker 6: Left real quick. Yeah. Does anybody look good? Yeah. Yeah. He's glowing. Like right there. He's glowing and okay, sure. Now Speaker 3: That your right lets Speaker 6: Your right he's glowing. Speaker 3: Ooh, I like that guy all way on the outside. Looks like anyone's Speaker 6: Right. Okay. Okay. So Speaker 3: Snap it [00:04:00] and Speaker 6: Then look to him as throw oh, delay, delay the game. That's my fault. Oh no. Did Speaker 3: He get it? That's the first down. Did he Speaker 6: Get it? That's first. Got it. He got it. That's tell all the sure. Take, take, take, take, take. No, that doesn't look good. That does. Is that good? Is that good? It's the cut sound? Oh, I couldn't even Speaker 3: Tell if you can see me. I Speaker 6: [00:04:30] All, here we go. You take it. You got it. I just feel like I was in my living room. I totally like Speaker 3: Look around you. You're only a football field in an NFL stadium. Speaker 6: This is so cool. This crazy dream tech feature, even if it's not invented yet. Okay. What would be the cool thing to do with VR in a Speaker 5: Football game? That's awesome to be able to have my friends, you, me, everyone in this room have [00:05:00] our own teams and we're all playing in the same virtual stadium with each other. Me as a quarterback, he was a running back, someone else on defense. And we're all just playing a, a virtual NFL football game, but literally with every position on the field, Speaker 7: Ah, this will be actually be extremely funny. So I've been, I played with a bunch of teams. I played for bill Beech. I played for John Harba. I played for some amazing coaches. Uh, the experience that a lot of people would love to see is what happens in the locker room at half time. You know, you come in that locker room, you're [00:05:30] winning, it's a different conversation. You come in that locker room and you're losing, right. And, and especially by bill Belichick, coach team or some other team, I think that that would be a really cool, um, experienced to be sitting down in the locker room, looking around and, uh, taking that feedback, whatever, whether it's positive or negative. Um, but I think that that would be a fun experience. We Speaker 6: Tried. Yeah, we tried. We tried. Speaker 3: How you feeling sweaty? Speaker 6: No it Speaker 1: Man, right? Yeah. I could see myself easily playing like [00:06:00] a little bit, but I'm like, I'm like, uh, like, like, like this kind of game, you don't really do the, um, like the offense as much. It's really just like throwing. Right. Well, there's, that was smoother than I thought. Uh, and a lot more fun. Um, and you see the helmet in there, you're looking around and it's so funny cuz in the moment you feel that pressure I'm like going, what do I do? And I saw it would be like a delay of game. Like, oh, you gotta act fast. They're just coming at you. Speaker 1: [00:06:30] Um, I did actually feel, you know, anyone right into me obviously, but your brain starts playing tricks on you a little bit. Cuz I like one point I wanted to run in. I'm like, let me just go forward. <laugh> there's nowhere to run. I mean, I don't wanna run into like, you know, the wall or anything, but uh, I, I was getting a feel for it. That was no training and I just got a feel for it. That was great. Obviously it's so important to like make it intuitive. I don't play VR. Um, I don't don't play a lot of football either, [00:07:00] but it was easy. I just didn't really know my football players, but I didn't need to know my football players. I just kept going. Sure, sure. Let's just go with what is preselected and then I could just also randomize it and just like throw it. But yet you do have to get a feel for like when you're releasing, if you have two hands on, if you're holding it, cuz every times I dropped it, but it's all good. I feel pretty good. I feel pretty good about what I, what I brought to the team today. The real interesting twist to me is that the founders of this game come from a sports background and that can take this game in a different direction than other football titles. Speaker 7: [00:07:30] They wanna make sure that the game feels real. You know, uh, when I put on the headset, I can tell you whether or not, ah, this is kind of like the real thing or no, this is the real thing. And so I think having those two, um, mindsets as we create is what lends itself to making sure that this thing is a real experience. Speaker 1: This is all new stuff and this is the kind of stuff that's gonna get families excited about VR during the holidays, when they wanna be able to put the [00:08:00] headset on and actually play a game, hit me up in the comments on what features you wanna see in your ideal VR football game and what other sports you would like to try. I gave this a try. Would you until next time, thanks for watching.