Many consider playing video games as a rather unhealthy pastime. It’s mainly a seated activity and a lot of games are designed to keep you playing for hours on end. From Nintendo Wii to Microsoft Kinect, the industry has tried to get players out of their chairs for years. But if you’ve ever played Beat Saber or Space Pirate Trainer, you know nothing offers a workout like virtual reality.

Building on that idea, Sport Vlaanderen has set up a funding call (link in Dutch) for the development or promotion of VR games with a focus on sports and physical activity. Similar in approach to a VAF/Gamefonds funding call, interested developers will have to submit their project by a certain date, after which the submissions will be reviewed by a commission of both sports and game experts. Please make sure to review the full regulations (link in Dutch) here.
The submission deadline is noon April 30, so you still have some time to think about it, but as always the early bird gets the worm. If you want to know more about the project and funding call, you’re invited to an info session on April 1 at 2 PM in Bruges. This is also an ideal opportunity to meet up with sports clubs and tap into the needs of our local sports industry.

We’re very happy that the sports sector is reaching out to our industry in an effort to get players moving and fight the stigma of unhealthy video games. We’re certain a lot of our developers can profit from this initiative and we’re looking forward to sweat our butts off with the projects that come out of this.