Virtual reality is here and ready to change our current understanding of reality. In a world already possessing artificial intelligence, self-driving cars and robotics, virtual reality is finally able to do what it has promised to for some time now: create a fully immersive virtual environment that a person can enter from the real world. Many companies, even those out-side of technological fields, have recognized the impact that virtual reality has on business, and have adopted it as a part of their operations.The health and wellbeing industryhas been changing enormously in Finland for the past decade; innovation and digitalization are the driving factors for itsgrowth. However, operators in the sports and fitness sector often seem to have not kept up with technological improvements, despite the ongoing fitness trend and the revolution in digital health tracking devices. This thesis investigates the following areas: digital services used in the health and wellbe-ing industry, exergaming as a phenomenon, the history of virtual reality and the opportuni-ties that virtual reality has to offer today for operators in the sports and fitness sector. Based ona literature review and interviews with VR experts in the fall of 2019, can better ascertain whether virtual reality could be integrated into effective exercise methods, when bringing a new and disruptive product onto the market in this highly competitive field. Results showed that challenges that come with virtual reality include the requirements of high speed and data, virtual reality sickness and the expensive, heavy and heated virtual reality gear. In the area of exercise, these challenges need to be addressed, in order to keep the experience enjoyable for customers and investment in VR worthwhile for the companies involved. Virtual reality offers a competitive advantage in the sport and fitness sector. Upcoming 5G technologies support the development of virtual reality in terms of faster speed and less latency, which can decrease virtual reality sickness, along with smaller, standalone virtual reality gear, which allows free movement for the user to exer-cise in versatile and previously impossible ways.
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