Esports have become a huge offshoot of the larger video games industry. Gaming research firm Newzoo estimates that 2021 was the first year that esports generated more than $1 billion in revenue. Like gaming more generally, esports is driven by hits but includes countless failures, even from companies as well-resourced as Amazon.

So, what hope does a game like Nock have? Created by Normal VR, a 10-person team founded by developer Max Weisel in 2016, Nock is a mix of archery and soccer releasing for the Meta Quest 2 on Thursday. It’s an ambitious project for a team that stayed lean to stick out the early, particularly rough years for consumer VR. Indeed, Weisel’s hope for Nock is that it becomes as culturally significant as real-life sports. It’s a bit like hoping to invent a successor to basketball.