Playtech unveils new virtual tennis product

Playtech has launched a new virtual tennis product following the “largest motion capture project ever attempted”, according to the company.

The game, which is now live on all platforms, was built through a year-long process of motion capture initiatives at Warner Bros Studios and 3D design and modelling work at Playtech Studios.

“Our Virtual Tennis product is unlike anything the industry has ever seen and feels as if you are courtside watching a Grand Slam,” said Elliott Norris, Playtech’s head of virtual sports.

“The team has done a phenomenal job and we’re delighted and incredibly proud of the results. The graphics are mind-blowing and we are the only company able to offer full sports simulations meaning that betting and gameplay are as realistic as possible,” Norris added.

The team spent three weeks in one of Warner Bros. Studios’ largest film stages, installing more than 100 cameras – worth in excess of ?5m and with positional accuracy down to 0.5mm – to capture images for the game.

The London-listed provider said in a statement: “It is the largest motion capture project ever attempted with Playtech’s Virtual Sports team using professional sportsmen and women in competition conditions and techniques and technology used in films such as Avatar, Godzilla and James Bond’s Quantum of Solace, in order to capture hundreds of hours of movement and footage.”

Playtech admitted last year it was late to the virtual sports vertical, but was investing in the technology in an effort to provide betting options 24-hour a day.