Intel Plans to acquire VR Startup VOKE. Sports has been driven by data, AKA stats, for years. Ask any Baseball nerd, for example. With the latest computer power, the games we watch and play, are being revolutionized by data new tech has the ability to capture, connect, analyze. Intel likes calling this the digitization of sports. When you put Virtual reality (VR), or what Intel CEO Brian Krzanich like call “merged” reality, you can get perspectives only the great players once enjoyed and knew.
In the last year Intel had giving fans and broadcasters new data-driven perspective on sports during the X-Games in Aspen and the NBA All-Star Weekend with freeD technology which came to Intel via the Replay acquisition.
To build on those efforts, Intel’s started a business unit – Intel Sports, led by General Manager James Carwana). Now the firm has bought VOKE, a leader in bringing live, virtual reality experiences to audiences. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, VOKE’s technology lets fans be where the action is without ever leaving their living rooms.
The VOKE TrueVR Experience Is:
- Realistic and immersive: VOKE’s proprietary paired lens, stereoscopic capture system provides a natural view of the action, allowing fans to see realistic proportions and depth wherever they look.
- Multiplatform: Users can access the experience from any device they choose (PC, tablet, phone and VR headset).
- Broadcaster-friendly: VOKE’s model echoes Intel’s enabling strategy for an end-to-end solution that easily integrates into existing broadcaster and league channels.
The VOKE team brings more than 20 years of VR expertise to Intel and has the goal bring fans the most personalized, fully immersive VR experience ever imagined and change the way networks, sports leagues and teams engage with their fans.
