Linden Lab’s Sansar announces partnerships with multiple Overwatch League teams.

Houston Outlaws and San Francisco Shock will help to create virtual watch spaces where fans can interact with players and personalities.

Sansar’s future esports integration will include real-time match stats, and in-match player audio sharing.

Linden Lab, the creator of Second Life, has decided to deliver virtual reality experiences to esports fans. It will partner with multiple teams in the Overwatch League to build virtual watchspaces through their VR social media platform, Sansar.

In the announcement, it was stated that the Houston Outlaws will name its virtual clubhouse “The Hideout,” while the San Francisco Shock will have a VR arena called the “Epicenter.” With both spaces, fans will be able to buy custom team-themed skins and merch for their Sansar avatars. Both OWL teams will open their virtual hangouts with real-life launch parties in their home cities.

The announcement also mentions that fans will be able to live stream matches in the watch spaces, though it’s not clear how this relates to Twitch’s exclusive rights to OWL games. Linden Lab says it plans to add real life stats integration in the future and allow users to listen in on in-match audio.

Both these OWL teams recently made headlines over planned real-world spaces. San Francisco Shock (and NRG Esports ) will sponsor a gaming community center on the campus of University of California, Berkeley. Infinite Esports & Entertainment , the holding company behind the Houston Outlaws, recently partnered with the city of Arlington on a multimillion dollar esports stadium.

VR has a small, still-experimental footprint in esports. Sliver.tv, a 360º and VR game streaming platform, broadcasts both ESL and DreamHack events, and closed a $9.M Series A funding round in August 2017. The demand for actual VR games is minor, but there have been some pushes of note. Recently, Intel put some backing behind two VR games, The Unspoken and Echo Arena, hosting the league finals for both at IEM Katowice 2018.

Sansar was first announced by Linden Lab in 2014, as a spiritual successor to its virtual world title Second Life. Currently in beta, the platform supports Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows computers. Much like its predecessor, Sansar also features its own virtual economy, which allows users to buy and sell virtual creations.