Hyper-realism has been gaining traction in virtual gaming. There are a few reasons for this, chief among them today’s players being used to video games that are extremely close to reality, thanks to technology such as motion capture.
FRANK WENZIG is the general manager of gaming at Sportradar. He first joined the organisation in October 2010 as associate director of product management after Sportradar acquired a company called Aitainment, which became Sportradar’s virtual sports division. Prior to joining Sportradar, Frank worked as a software engineer and spent 11 years in IT consulting and project management.
However, it’s important to not just concentrate on the visual aspect. If you don’t also make your virtuals hyper-realistic in terms of betting mechanics, then users will not be able to engage as well as they can with real-life sports, which defeats the whole purpose.
The challenge, therefore, is to make virtual sports even more realistic. This is why over the last five years or so, we have used motion capture to develop our virtuals. It’s also the reason we base our virtual betting experience on the same tools and interfaces that we use with real sports.
Betradar has never looked back since first trying motion capture technology, but that doesn’t mean it is easy. In our case, the process was incredibly in-depth and required we work with some of the biggest motion capture studios to produce our virtual offering.
Clearly, the key to making successful virtual games lies in creating the best, most realistic experience. However, it’s not just about capturing the aesthetics of reality; it’s also about data analysis. We analysed hundreds of thousands of events and circumstances across different sports to ensure that reality was represented in our virtual games.
Both the investment required and the complexity of the technology means succeeding in the virtuals market is becoming increasingly difficult. That doesn’t mean to say there isn’t space for start-ups to disrupt, but when it comes to keeping up with technology and realism using motion capture, data feeds and widgets, for example, there is a lot that a virtual sports company needs to master.
What’s more, by simply entering the segment, there is no guarantee that you will be able to stay there. It’s vital to look into emerging technologies and constantly adapt to the challenges, and this is something Betradar remains committed to.
Although multi-distribution is a buzzword, it’s become one of the unsung success stories of virtual gaming. Developers need to adapt all of their virtual sports content solutions into a huge array of constantly changing browsers and devices, which is no easy feat. However, it’s one that Betradar has ultimately overcome.
This technological race for realism and user experience is something that’s never going to stop. It’s a challenge but one we remain committed to. After all, we want to remain at the top of the virtuals game.
COMPANY PROFILE
•NAME BETRADAR •FOUNDED 2001•SECTOR SPORTS BETTING •WEBSITEBETRADAR.COM•TWITTER@SPORTRADAR