Stinger Report - 16/11/2020

TSR Newsletter | November 16, 2020

Silver Advertiser

-- The Stinger Report: Service Message --

The Global Digital Out-Of-Home Entertainment (DOE) Sector covered in The Stinger Report .

Wishing all our subscribers, famlies, loved ones, (and those serving) stay safe and well.

Kevin Williams

Publisher, The Stinger Report (TSR)

The Roadmap Ahead for Entertainment

Part 2 | # 1046

Report Skinny

The only way to “Stay-Up-To-Date” regarding the new phases of immersive entertainment is with The Stinger Report. In this report we look at new tech which allows Video Conference Attraction a Chance to Shine, along with new information revealing the Legacy of The VOID and beyond, with projects launched influenced by the VR poster boy. All this and Continued LBE VR Investment revealed from across the market, and how Amusement’s COVID Response manifests with new hardware development to combat the problems.

Main Report

Continuing the observations of the virtual trade events attempting to fill the vacuum caused by the global health crisis, there is a new application that marries the use of live presenters and social entertainment in a unique mix.

- Video Conference Attraction’s Chance to Shine

As we covered regarding the Virtual Expo developments, the use of Video Conference app-based entertainment has gained momentum. The ‘Two Bit Circus – Remote’ virtual gameshow platform is fitting into a new COVID-fuelled aspect of the private hire scene. Fulfilling the need to offer group party events has been equally impacted by the lockdown, utilizing live performers in this role. As previously reported in The Stinger Report, as seen with Escape Rooms, the private hire entertainment sector has also turned to Video Conferencing to offer a substitute to the convention entertainment offerings. Interactive Entertainment Group has announced its new Zoom powered team-based classic gameshow, ‘Virtual Jeoparty’ – with up-to-15 players using their own buzzer to play the game, with a live host, during the 60-minute competition. The virtual gameshow offers a social entertainment experience, as with the Virtual Escape Room business employing a live host to keep the action going. This is one of several “Virtual Events” which the company has developed on the back of the Video Conference application, including virtual scavenger hunts and virtual horse racing.

We have seen Video Conferencing apps broaden the horizon of lockdown attractions – applying all the live staff interaction elements which the theme park and entertainment industry is only equipped to provide, along with the packaging of physical attractions with remote play. As already covered previously in The Stinger Report, we have seen the deployment of ‘Remote Escape Rooms’, with the games master navigating the audience through the experience, on a similar level to that employed in the ‘Virtual Gameshow’ application. Taking this one step further, we have recently seen the launch of the first ‘Virtual Scare’ applications. In time for Halloween, the company Pseudonym Productions announced the launch of its ‘Virtual Frights’ – an online scare experience, with logged-on viewers traversing an interactive viewing experience, through the past and present of Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights. This is thought to be the first of a number Video Conference-based scare experience that will appear on the market.

The global health crisis has ushered in the world of remote working and Video Conferencing and the investment in this business has exploded on the market. Current market leader, Zoom, has kept adding 100,000 users per quarter and has been calculated to achieve some $186 million in profit for the quarter ending July 31st 2020, compared with some $5.5 million for last year. It has been reported that virtual event platforms are raising, in the order of more than $30 million, with a rush of new concepts and platforms being thrown to investors. The entertainment industry has not been left out of this, with the success of SPACES being acquired by Apple regarding their VR-based virtual conferencing platform. It is expected that other developers in our industry, who are developing these kinds of crossover entertainment apps which employ the new married to the old, will also benefit from this investment spree.

- The Legacy of The VOID and Beyond

As seen from our previous coverage on the state of the “Arena-Scale” VR sector, little was actually known about the final disposition of the original The VOID operation – however those previous management executives who left the ship have been linked to the opening and development of new LBE projects in the wild.

One of these new developments was the opening of The Grid – a 60,000-sq.ft. go-kart and amusement indoor facility based in Utah. Opened earlier in the year, the facility bore all the hallmarks of the original sketches and plans for a The VOID location (prior to its partnership with Walt Disney and pivot to a single site project). The Grid is a self-styled “Future of Entertainment” venue, offering a mixture of experiences, including karting, amusement, aspirations of eSport, and “the loft” – a music and gaming space. Conceived by ex-chief-executives of The VOID and borrowing heavily from previous aspirations, the venue has seen a bumpy ride to opening and operation – culminating in the impact from the COVID situation enlarging fault lines in the business plan. Details on its future have yet to be revealed, as Utah entertainment reopens for business.

In a second, separate development, this time from the co-founder of The VOID, the start of a new standalone LBE VR project was revealed. The new company, called Limitless Flight, is working to create a VR-based wingsuit simulator experience – with the first system called ‘JUMP’. Information is limited, but from the visuals released this is a VR headset-based experience, with suspended players controlling their virtual wingsuit. The new company has been in research since 2018, though the proposed first installation of this system will be seen in 2021 at a yet undisclosed location. This is obviously not the first time that paragliding, wingsuits and parachuting have been brought to VR attraction application. Most notably, the iFly ‘VR Experience’ attractions of 2017, and the successful Frontgrid ‘Paradrop’ deployments have been well covered by The Stinger Report (as well as numerous other approaches). It will be interesting to see what is unique in the ‘JUMP’ deployment, and how this will fare in the changed market landscape to active VR platforms.

Regarding the actual LBE VR project that these executives started with, The VOID had been on major radio silence since the March lockdown of operations across the sector, having been attempting major restructuring following the injection of new investment. The reveal by news outlets of the permanent closure of the Walt Disney property venues, and the removal of all Disney IP from the operation, had gone unchallenged. Attempts for a definitive statement on the future of the operation have gone unanswered, but just as we were about to publish this feature, a new development was leaked to sources.

It was revealed that Walt Disney in China had decided on their future inclusion of immersive entertainment on property. It was revealed that the SoReal LBE facility would be opening its latest venue in the Disneytown area of Shanghai Disneyland Resort. This will mark the second SoReal VR park to be opened in China, and the Disneytown complex is expected to comprise some 4,000-sq.m. of multiple zones, including free-roaming VR, VR cinema installation, and media-based attractions. This will mark a major support by Disney in VR, since their flirtation through their support of The VOID. Sources suggest there had been ongoing discussions to place the third on-Disney-property VOID facility at the Shanghai resort, but these discussions collapsed in 2019 following the financial restructuring of the VR company.

SoReal first opened their operation in 2016, owned and operated by Danghong Qitian International Culture Development (known in the West as Sky Limit Entertainment (SLE)), comprising support from prominent Chinese film directors and investment from financial operations such as Lenovo Capital, Weiyue Group, Mango Culture and Innovation Private Equity Fund (there is speculation that the company is funded to the tune of $15m, as of 2018). The location’s interior was designed by Ueberall and Refik Anadol Studio for the first 3,000-sq.m. flagship Beijing location. The original ambitious plans for the SoReal VR Park rollout have been tempered with owners SLE having focused on eSports and VR cinema plans. A well-placed source confirmed to The Stinger Report that a 2,000-sq.m. SoReal internet cafe (with a VR free-roam Arena), was opened inside in Chengdu during June 2020, and a SoReal VR Park in Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province, is planned to be opened in November – that will be their second VR Park. Recently, Intel (an investor in SLE), signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with the company on future developments in VR and AR. The announcement of this Disney-China partnership with SLE will be closely watched to see if this indicates a closer alliance towards use of Disney IP in VR and further installations.

- Continued LBE VR Investment

Regarding others heavy investment into LBE projects that incorporate a strong eSports and VR offering, it was announced in October that the Al Qana, the developers of the new leisure destination venue in Abu Dhabi (supported by Al Barakah International Investment), has signed a memorandum of understanding with Robocom VR towards the development of a new location-based entertainment hub for the venue, called ‘PIXEL’. The new site is planned for opening by 2021 and will comprise an eSports hub and VR gaming complex, along with other simulator and gaming entertainment. Readers will remember that Robocom VR was one of those operations used to re-populate the restructured ‘VR Park Dubai’ after its relaunch. This new development hopes to benefit from the calculations of the value in the Middle East and North African (MENA) sectors for eSports (valued globally at $1 billion) and the gaming market (valued in the MENA at $4.5 billion).

Robocom VR is also involved with another major new VR-based theme park attraction that will be opening in the UAE. Based on the Transformers movie franchise, this VR attraction employs the ‘Starblade’ motion base first launched originally by Total Interactive Technologies back in 2016, which later became Robocom VR. The platform offers a unique 360° rotation and pivot. The company is working closely in collaboration with the franchise owners, Hasbro, to create an immersive experience based in the Transformers universe. A full report from the opening of the attraction in Dubai will be made by The Stinger Report on its visit to the launch.

This is the latest VR attraction developed on the Transformers property, with Hasbro working with Minority Media on their VR enclosure systems, as reported in our IAAPA’19 coverage. And just as we went to the wire, the developer announced that they would be releasing a brand new experience for their four-person tethered system, ‘Transformers: VR Invasion’, a PVE experience. The player-vs-everyone co-op game style is a new departure on the Minority Media VR tethered enclosure platform. It was also revealed that the company will see several of their units installed alongside Robocom VR at the Dubai facility.

It was revealed that HOLOGATE signed a partnership with ARVI VR, developers of a suite of VR escape games (which we have covered in The Stinger Report previously). With this partnership, HOLOGATE will be making available VR escape gaming titles on their platform, giving the ‘HOLOGATE Arena’ (tethered two- and four-player VR enclosures) a new vertical to offer to interest players. HOLOGATE has already established a considerable library of content for the over-400 units in the field to select from, with the company operating an operator software library platform comprising of leading categories of VR content to deploy. With the addition of VR escape gaming from the ARVI VR catalogue, the company hopes to continue the penetration of this popular brand. VR Escape Room game experiences have become a popular aspect of the VR scene, attractive to those with physical Escape Rooms, and those operators who do not have the space or means to include a physical version to their mix. HOLOGATE will also be releasing a special “Escape” branded version of the platform, targeted especially at Escape Room operators.

Only a few weeks after the launch in Germany of the ‘YULLBE - Full Body Tracking Free Roaming VR Experience’ facility, developed by new division MackNeXT, which uses fully-tracked, backpack PCs and customized Pimax 4K VR headsets, it was announced that the Chinese manufacturer had successfully secured a Series B funding round reaching $20m – from the likes of Ivy Capital and CDF-Capital. This supports the previous Series A, and the Kickstarter that raised a total of $4m. The new investment will go towards securing a new strategy to promote and develop their super-wide FOV headset and look towards expanding into new markets.

- Amusement’s COVID Response

It was expected that, at some point, the impact of COVID-measures would see some influence in the design and development of attractions and amusement. For the theme park industry, the adoption of plexiglass barriers and the belated adoption of virtual queuing seems to be the initial manifestation. Likewise, amusement operators have looked at physical distancing measures, but it has been for the amusement manufacturers to reveal their approach.

As we entered the Japanese buying cycle, BANDAI NAMCO Amusement recently unveiled the latest incarnation of their popular Mobile Gundam series, with 'Mobile Suit Gundam Battlefield Bonds II‘ – this latest version abandons the enclosed POD design capsule, and reverts to a large three hi-def 43’’ screen open-design, retaining the control system of the original. It continues the network combat mech team action, employing the IC card (BANA Passport) storage system. Moving from the POD dome projection system for the full field-of-view, three screen arrangement, is said to give a more immersive representation – showing off the most realistic real-time graphics of the whole series. A factor in the abandonment of the popular capsule design may also have been encouraged, offering a simpler to clean and operate open-plan design. The network battle competition series has proven popular since its 2006 outing, and this latest version will hit Japanese venues early in 2021. As with most of the production run, no plans for a Western distribution have been made.

Regarding other trends in the amusement scene that see influence from the current situation, and a few Asian manufacturers have started to convert the use of VR headsets into more of a viewer style system. An example of this is from Hong Kong game development studio, 3MindWave (known for their work for SEGA on ‘ATV SLAM’), with the company showing ‘VR Agent’ – a virtual shooting game available in a four-player seated version, or upright kiosk version. The key difference is that the 3Glasses headset has been incorporated into the player’s weapon, like a sight – a feature that allows simpler usage, avoiding the need to put on the display. Stinger Report sources spotted, during both AAA’20 and GTI’20, several Chinese developers were seen employing this method – alleviating the need to mess the user’s hair and facilitating in easier cleaning.