Earlier this year, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the Olympic Virtual Series — a “Olympic-licensed event for physical and non-physical virtual sports.” Now, the developers of Racket: Nx are trying to make the game one of those virtual sports. Developers One Hamsa and the IOC-recognized International Racquetball Association are collaborating with the goal of presenting Racket: Nx as a candidate. The idea is to present the virtual sport as not just for existing VR players, but for general racket sports players too. According to One Hamsa Studio Director Assaf Ronen, Racket: Nx is an “immersive, skill-based and fully athletic experience” that “supports the moves of all racquet sports, except those that would not work in the average living room or family room.” The developers say they have a base globally of 150,000 players across PC and standalone VR platforms, including availability in the “emerging Chinese VR market” and they hope that reach means the game is more likely to be accepted.

The first Olympic Virtual Series already concluded ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but the IOC has a roadmap for the coming decade that includes encouraging “the development of virtual sports and further engage with video gaming communities.” More specifically, it recommends the Olympics launch “products and experiences through virtual and simulated forms of sports” and “Consider the addition of physical virtual sports in the Olympic Programme.”

The pinnacle of sporting achievement for most athletes is winning a medal at the Olympic Games. It’s also a badge of honour if a new sport is recognised and accepted into the Olympic Program. Whilst there’s still a way to go until that happens, One Hamsa’s Racket: Nx has taken an important step towards that goal, receiving an endorsement by the IOC (International Olympic Committee)-recognised International Racquetball Federation (IRF).

The first time a virtual reality (VR) videogame has received an official endorsement of this kind, One Hamsa and the IRF have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). They’ll collaborate to develop Racket: Nx as an Olympic Virtual Series sport with the eventual aim to fully approve Racket: Nx as a full l discipline, thus making it a candidate for the Olympic Games.

“Racket: Nx is an immersive, skill-based and fully athletic experience, that opens the gate for players of all racquet sports–not only racquetball–to play full out inside a lighted, player-responsive, sound and music-filled dome, in a game that is as unique as it is engaging,” said One Hamsa Studio Director Assaf Ronen in a statement. “Racket:Nx has over 150,000 players connected overall PC and mobile VR platforms, including the fastest-growing VR headset, the Oculus Quest 2 and is available around the globe, including the emerging Chinese VR market. That means that this game is more likely to achieve the mass acceptance that the IOC seeks.”

The Olympic Virtual Series was unveiled earlier this year and ran from May through to June. It featured five games simulating Baseball, Cycling, Rowing, Sailing and Motorsport but only two were physical (Cycling & Rowing) and none were in VR. Should Racket: Nx eventually join this group it’ll add another highly physical element to the roster.

“This is a marriage made in future-sport heaven: a world-class developer and a unique, successful, and wonderful game, with a fully global international IOC-recognised sports federation, that has the vision and the grit to not just see around the corner but to go there. This is a major opportunity, as there are more total racquet sports players in the world than soccer players,” adds Virtual Sports Association CEO Victor Bond who helped broker the deal.

Available for Oculus Quest and PC VR headsets, Racket: Nx is known for its highly energetic gameplay. Players find themselves inside a futuristic dome where they have to smash a floating ball into the wall to score points as quickly as possible to progress through the waves. Gameplay is augmented with various tiles like wormholes, so they need to listen to audio cues to hear where it’ll appear next. Last month One Hamsa released a new update adding a level builder enabling players to create and share their own designs.

As further details regarding Racket: Nx’s Olympic aspirations are revealed, VRFocus will let you know.

Based in Colorado Springs, Colorado and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IRF revealed it’s working with Israel-based developers One Hamsa to enter Racket: Nx into the new Olympic Virtual Sport Series program, but also as an eventual candidate for the Olympic Games. The news was announced via an IRF press release.

The IOC’s Virtual Sports Series was created to reach engage new Olympic audiences; it already includes five games which simulate cycling, rowing, baseball, sailing, and car racing. Granted, the IOC hasn’t said whether those activities will merit actual medals, however a Guardian report maintains it hasn’t been ruled out for “physical” virtual sports such as rowing or cycling.

On its quest to make it to the Olympics, the studio is pitching three ‘disciplines’ within the game itself, which includes both solo and co-op leaderboard competitions, and a mode whereby two competitors fight in a sort of score-driven tug-of-war: the first player to 1,000 points wins.

While Racket: Nx is essentially a sport in its own right thanks to its intense physicality, need for good hand-eye coordination, and block-breaking scoring system, there are a few more hurdles to jump over before we’ll see a VR game make it into the Olympics.

Like bowling and chess, activities can gain official recognition but not become a competing event at the Olympic Games, the IOC says. In addition to getting the endorsement by an International Federation, the activity also has to be practiced “widely across the world and meet various criteria.” After that, the IOC’s Executive Board will need to recommend that its added to Games program. Still, if those “physical” virtual games see some level of legitimacy at this year’s games, Racket: Nx’s chances are good.

According to One Hamsa, Racket:Nx has now sold over 150,000 units across all supported platforms, which includes the ever-popular Oculus Quest 2. The game is also said to host around 15,000 players per month. Studio CEO Assaf “Usul” Ronen says this makes them “more likely to achieve the mass acceptance that the IOC seeks. Racquet sports, it turns out, all together, maybe the largest sports category in the world, eclipsing even world football.”