When it comes to VR fitness, few development companies have a more longstanding presence in the industry than FitXR. Since launching BoxVR onto Steam way back in 2017 they have led the way when it comes to utilizing virtual reality technology as a workout tool.
Following news of multi-million dollar investment into the company, a rebrand last year led to BoxVR being replaced on the Oculus Quest platform with FitXR, the game now bearing the company name. FitXR added a second studio, Dance to the traditional Box, and hired a team of real-world personal trainers and dance instructors to choreograph and voice the new workouts. With the recent launch of their own range of merchandise and exercise accessories, it became clear that FitXR was less seeing them themselves as a games developer, and instead of moving in the direction of creating a whole new fitness brand. That vision is finally about to be realized with today’s launch of FitXR as a monthly subscription fitness service.
Whilst this shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who have been following both FitXR’s development and the rapid growth of VR over the past year, largely due to the phenomenal success of the Oculus Quest 2, it is still certainly big news and might come as a surprise, and cause for concern for existing users, who worry what will happen to the existing game they have already paid for. I recently joined FitXR CEO and co-founder Sam Cole for a discussion about this and have put together an article that goes into much more detail, hopefully addressing the FitXR subscription model and how it affects you. Spoiler alert, don’t worry, nobody is losing any content they have already bought, and you will not need to subscribe to retain your game. Existing users will be encouraged to try it out, however, with a very generous 90-day free trial!
With that reassurance let’s look at what’s coming, below is FitXR’s press release statement in full.
FitXR Launches Major Update to its Virtual Fitness Club
Introducing Multiplayer workouts, new daily classes,
fresh music, and a new studio coming soon
LONDON & NEW YORK – April 15, 2021 — FitXR, the leading VR/AR fitness company, is pushing to new levels in its quest to build the most immersive virtual fitness club. Members will now have the ability to work out with their friends via a Multiplayer feature, have access to the full library of on-demand classes, enjoy a new class every day and work out to original tracks from major and indie record labels. FitXR is also soon launching its third fitness studio.
Alongside these new features, and to enable a continuously improved experience based on members’ feedback, FitXR is excited to launch a membership model available today on the Oculus Quest platform for $9.99 a month. All existing FitXR users will be given a 90-day free membership at launch, and new members will be given a 7-day free membership trial. Features include:
A new class every day: Designed and choreographed by a team of professional fitness instructors, there’ll be a new class every day of the week.
Multiplayer: Taking a cue from group fitness classes, FitXR is inspired by the power that comes from exercising together and wanted to bring this to its virtual fitness club. The Multiplayer feature allows up to seven members to work out together, live. Members can now also chat with one another before, during, and after class and can see the other members with whom they are working out during class. Members will still have the option to engage in on-demand classes where they compete with past recorded sessions of other members.
Brand new studios: FitXR will bring members a brand new HIIT studio in May. Following Box and Dance, the HIIT studio will be the third FitXR studio to launch. The HIIT studio features highly competitive High-Intensity Interval Training classes delivering more variety to FitXR and an even more well-rounded workout experience.
Fresh beats: FitXR is joining forces with Warner Music to bring “music that moves you” to FitXR classes. Longer-term, FitXR’s overall music strategy is to provide a constant stream of artists for its members to discover. Much like the group fitness class environment where you’re often introduced to interesting and inspiring new music, the company plans to curate tracks from established and emerging artists around the world.
New Environments: The Box studio now offers FitXR members the option to choose the environment in which to work out. Members can select between a new Skypark setting, day or night, featuring an urban rooftop space with city skyline views or they can Box in the original FitXR studio setting. The Dance Floor studio features a vibrant space where music and the surroundings blend together in perfect sync. The soon-to-be-launched new HIIT Clifftop studio, also featuring day or night options, will be a bright, friendly, and serene space with perfect ocean views.
Easier navigation: FitXR’s refreshed interface makes finding favorite classes easier. Now, there’s additional information on each class so members can find what best suits their fitness goals. Members can also choose from one of three home destinations from which to navigate around the app – The Loft, The Locker Room, and The Arena.
With these new offerings, FitXR is the only VR fitness app that provides a truly immersive, multiplayer experience with constantly refreshed fitness content for the lowest subscription price available, making it accessible to a broad range of members.
“FitXR was founded with an aim to make fitness approachable, and fun, for all,” said Sam Cole, Co-Founder, and CEO of FitXR. “The FitXR community has always been at the heart of every decision we make, as we read every bit of feedback from our customers and are inspired by the life-changing transformations they are having. We had always intended to follow a subscription model to enable us to continually update and add new features, and now via Oculus, that is possible. Oculus launching subscriptions represents a coming of age moment for VR, as developers can provide significantly more value to their customers. FitXR is offering an unequaled virtual fitness club, challenging traditional ways of thinking about fitness. Members can now meet new people, work out together and achieve the real gym experience while at home. We’re excited for FitXR customers, new and old, to try for themselves what we have been working on and to learn what FitXR has in store for them in the near future.”
The $9.99 monthly membership will come with a 90-day free membership for existing FitXR users. Following the 90-day free period, existing users will need to become paying members in order to have access to the new FitXR features. However, existing users who choose not to subscribe will continue to have access to all content they have previously purchased.
For new members, FitXR will be free to download from the Oculus store. Once a member has downloaded FitXR and created their profile, they will be given a free 7-day membership trial, during which time they’ll have full access to all content. Following the free 7-day trial, new members can subscribe for the $9.99 monthly membership for continued full content access. If they choose not to subscribe, new members will still have access to the free basic version of the app, which includes three tutorial classes for each fitness studio. This currently means access to three boxing and three dancing classes, but will expand to also include three HIIT classes later in May.
For additional information, visit here. View the official FitXR trailer below.
That’s a lot of information to unpack! For a deeper dive about what this means, and a more detailed look at what’s coming join me again as we look at the FitXR Subscription and what it means for you.
