Stinger Report - 20/07/2020

TSR Newsletter | July 20, 2020

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-- 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)

Entertainment’s Next Adventure

Part 1 | # 1029

Report Skinny

The Stinger Report starts a new chapter in its long history of reporting on the cutting edge in Out-of-Home Entertainment. We start this first in a series looking at the new landscape ahead, first with news covering Arena Scale VR’s re-emergence, along with a look at how VR Arcade Business Gets Support from new content and platforms; and finally we look at how Arena Scale Gains Momentum with new developments.

Main Report

The Stinger Report moves forward and, after an extensive ten-part “ Entertainment's Shifting Paradigm ” retrospective, we now move to the new uplands. Towards the innovation and application in the sector, we focus on these aspects that will help to drive the future of our businesses. But we will also not shirk from reporting on outdated mentalities, and how they must be addressed to ensure the regrowth of this vibrant and vital industry.

- Arena Scale VR Reverberations

Not all of the news was regarding re-openings. Continuing the previous observation by The Stinger Report regarding the global crisis throwing up the perfect storm for some corporations, and the latest news of business is seeing serious impacts from lockdown.

In the most recent major upheaval in the LBE VR scene, and it was revealed by WDW News Today that the California, The VOID location-based entertainment facility had permanently closed. Moreover, the store displayed an official statement citing the reason for the closure as due to License Agreement Breach. The VR facility at Downtown Disney had closed along with the other venues in March, and had expected to start the process of reopening – but WDW reported that the site had been shuttered and correspondence from Walt Disney World Operating Participants Department was displayed. The notice declared termination of lease due to default , dated June 30, and stated the operation must cease all use of Walt Disney intellectual property, promotional material, and trademark.

At the time of going to the wire, no response had been received to communications with The VOID executive team. Obviously, concern was that, rather than this being an individual store, the whole chain of VOID facilities would be impacted by this development. Global operations comprise 17 sites in the USA, Dubai, Malaysia and Canada – and the company had been working on plans to expand in Australia, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, France, The Netherlands and Germany before the COVID-19 situation forced their shuttering. The company had already signed an agreement with the Westfield shopping mall operation to open new style venues in their properties. Along with Sony Pictures IP (‘ Ghostbusters Dimension ’) and Columbia Pictures IP (‘ Jumanji – Reverse The Curse ’), The VOID had an extensive range of Walt Disney Company movie properties, including ‘ Avengers – Damage Control ’, ‘ Wreck-it Ralph – Breaks the Internet ’ , and ‘ Star Wars – Secrets of the Empire ’ . The removal of such IP will prove an incredibly difficult situation for the company.

Established in 2016, The VOID had previously partnered with Sony Pictures and Merlin Entertainment (Madame Tussauds New York) on their first venue – ‘Ghostbusters: Dimension’. Then in 2017 they received financial and content development support, awarded through the Disney Accelerator program, also partnering with Lucasfilms ’ ILMxLAB immersive entertainment division , working jointly on IP from the movie studio and rolling out their first stores. The Star Wars VR experience had been extensively promoted by the chain across all their stores, supported by extensive merchandising. The VOID also had links to OculusVR , using their technology under license (elements from the CV1 headset), in their own Raptor headset. Along with the Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield partnership to open 25 sites, the company had also signed with Cineplex in Canada and announced an expansion agreement; and they were also partnering with Resorts World Genting in Malaysia regarding an ambitious Asian rollout plan.

At this time, information on the domino effect of this Walt Disney World termination on the other sites was still unknown, but there were indications that the Disney Spring facility in Orlando would also be permanently closed as the fallout of this situation developed. The implications for others in the LBE VR scene could not be measured, though the news sent shockwaves through the sector. Just before going to the wire on this situation, and while no official word had been heard from the company, sources in Malaysia revealed that The VOID Genting had opened its doors, but was only offering the self-created ‘ Nicodemus ’ and the Sony ‘ Ghostbusters: Dimension ’ VR experiences. Further investigation revealed that bookings were being taken. Attempts to reach out to The VOID for a statement on the situation had not been returned at this time.

It was amazing to think that, some six years ago, Stinger Report founders KWP and friends at Arcade Heroes , were invited to the then Utah offices for the prototype concept of The VOID . That 2015 visit allowed us to try their rudimentary backpack VR system and see the physical effects process they proposed to marry to their Arena Space experience. The aspirations of the company founders were high – build their own headset and tracking, open their own LBE facility, create a VR motion simulator. For a concept born out of a failed theme park project the aspirations were grandiose, but the kernel of a strong idea and experience were visible. Jump forward to 2020 and the company has burnt through a lot of its investment, and has been embroiled in a number of questionable business decisions – never building their original facility concept – and being forced to adapt to facility construct demanded by investors Merlin/Sony and later Disney . As one wag opined, once you take away the expensive and unique movie-based IP experiences, all you are left with is The VOID !

Another Arena Scale VR company with an incredibly high profile is Sandbox VR . As previously reported during the depths of the lockdown, the company had revealed via social media that its then CEO and a large portion of the development team had been laid off due to what was described as a “ abrupt end due to COVID ”. Well again, reported through social media, much happier news. The company’s new CEO (and founder) revealed at the beginning of July that the first of the company’s 16-locations had opened, and in particular their Chicago site reported “… over 80 groups have booked and we’re 100% sold out for the next three days… ” This was greatly encouraging news and seemed to mirror other LBE sites that were seeing returning interest.

This is a pivotal moment for the mega-LBE VR offerings, that saw vast infusions of investment pre-COVID. Now is essential to see these operations re-emerge from lockdown and to prove they have a draw to a stir-crazy market looking for a compelling level of escapism from their lives. With the news of what is happening with The VOID , the spotlight and investor concerns will be turned on all these providers to prove their worth, and hoping to navigate this from the shadows is not an option.

- VR Arcade Business Gets Support

While many may have felt that the previously reported news from Beat Games of their termination of usage of their successful ‘ Beat Saber ’ title through content distribution, had been ill timed as the VR arcade scene re-emerges from lockdown. Other content providers have announced measures to offer support to what has been a growing aspect of the location-based entertainment explosion prior to the global health crisis.

It was announced that LBE content distribution platform SynthesisVR and SpringboardVR have partnered international game publisher and developer Ubisoft so a selection of their popular VR titles could be license-free to arcade operators for a limited period of time, upon re-opening. The titles in question included ‘ Eagle Flight Arcade ’ (the Parisian multi-player bird soaring experience) and ‘ Space Junkies Arcade ’ (the PvP multi-player sci-fi shooter). This news was followed by other new measures to help kickstart VR arcade support.

An announcement from VR LEO USA – the parent company for the ‘ LEO ’ self-service VR kiosk system, that was covered in our IAAPA’19 coverage. The company representing the Chinese-developed platform announced they had undertaken a major licensing agreement with HalfBrick , which will see the million download VR title ‘ Fruit Ninja ’ ported to the self-operated kiosk system. This marks the first in several signings supported by VR LEO USA , launching their new Software Developers Kit (SDK) that allows games on the Window MR platform to be ported across to the amusement system. The company revealed their plans to announce, later in the year, another string of signings, and hopes by the end of 2021 to have a library of the ten most important VR titles available on their hardware, which will be available worldwide at that point.

VRstudios has been at the front of a number of leading developments – one of the first to place VR as a theme park attraction (‘ VR Ghost Town ’ for Knott’s Berry Farm in 2017), one of the first to create an enclosure VR system and, building on their experience, one of the first to create a dedicated delivery and operator platform to support content and tournaments with their AMP (Attraction Management Program), powering nearly 200 VR systems. The company had partnered with Cineplex in 2018, represented by Player One Amusement Group (P1AG), with plans to roll out 40 units in Canada. July saw another major partnership for the operation, with VRstudios announcing they will be partnering with veteran trampoline and adventure center equipment manufacturer Fun Spot Manufacturing LLC – launching a configuration of their ‘ ATOM ’ VR ensure system to best suits the need of the business.

The ‘ ATOM ’ is a flexible turnkey enclosure system, with wireless HTC VIVE Pro headsets, and can accommodate two-to-eight player configurations, offering nine games to choose from. All the content and operator management is handled by the touchscreen AMP system (as covered in our IAAPA;19 report). Fun Spot Manufacturing are well known for their dedicated active course attractions (‘ Ninja ’ and ‘ Wipeout ’) and VRstudios is working with Fun Spot to make the best VR platform for the unique needs of their active entertainment client base. At the same time, VRstudios announced they had partnered with CleanBox Technologies towards offering the UV-C solution to operators of their VR hardware, along with creating a best practise guide for their VR hardware users.

News of re-opening VR experiences continued, with that held at Universe Science Park in Denmark, a visitor attraction site, and the location of the “ World First ” ‘ ParadropVR ’ attraction, installed back in 2018. Developed by Frontgrid , the attraction offers riders the chance to virtually soar over the landscape, controlling their own paraglider through the virtual landscape, and exhilarating speed whilst playing a game. Riders’ scores are then ranked on a mobile app leader board. The Universal Science Park team have limited the number of riders to accumulate in the attraction building, and are employing best practise hygiene procedures regarding operating the VR system, but confirm that the interest to ride the experience has not diminished from the guests to the venue.

New VR releases came thick and fast during July, and the next on the roster was the release of the full experience of the ‘ HOLOGATE Blitz ’ platform – the racing VR simulator. First presented last year, HOLOGATE has been working on the title to apply information from players and operators to fully round out the experience. The final game is called ‘ HYPER-GP ’, and supports up-to-eight players, networked together while racing in their full motion simulators. The sci-fi racing experience has been crafted to support location-based VR eSports, which is becoming a regular addition to the play characteristics of most multi-player VR experiences.

- Arena Scale Gains Momentum

New releases were coming thick and fast to coincide with the reopening of numerous VR arcade and LBE venues. Looking at Zero Latency , the company has installed its free-roaming platform in some 45 venues in some 22 countries. One of those countries is the UK and, in the London MeetSpaceVR facility, The Stinger Reports owners, KWP , were given exclusive access to try the latest title released by Zero Latency . Called ‘ Undead Arena VR ’, the experience is a wave-based zombie shooter, but in the style of a reality TV show, as the players battle hoards and progress through levels to achieve a high score and become an instant TV sensation. This is a really fun 15-minute experience that sees up-to-eight players working as a team, protecting each other’s backs and blasting the undead with either their machine gun, shotgun, or crossbow for those all-important headshots – the game has all the makings of a strong eSport experience.

The team at MeetSpaceVR revealed the efforts they had undertaken to re-open, working closely with their landlord at the BOXPARK location and ensuring that their guests follow the new COVID measures. The operation revealed they have seen a 20-percent capacity based on what they were achieving before lockdown and were beginning to see a return of their audience (we would like to thank the team for the chance to be first to try out the experience). This is the latest game from Zero Latency , who recently announced a partnership with consumer game giant Ubisoft to develop its next immersive experience using one of their popular IP, slated for a 2021 release.

More new releases continued to fuel the re-opening LBE VR scene. Virtuix , the developers of the ‘ Omni Arena ’, launched the new title ‘ Blackbeard: The Trials of Skull Island ’. This is a cooperative four-player game, aimed also at a younger family-based audience, incorporating pirate combat and stolen treasure to achieve high scores on the leaderboard. An element of Virtuix titles is their inclusion of prize tournament support for the more than the 500 connected, installed, base of commercial machines. The top teams on Blackbeard’s global leaderboard will win cash prizes from a $100,000 prize pool, which has been sponsored by Virtuix and HP . Virtuix reports, overall, their Omni Arena revenue at FECs, are averaging $2,450 per week, about 75-percent of pre-lockdown levels.

The Netherlands-based Vertigo Arcades launched their new title. ‘ Ghost Patrol VR ’. This is the third Arena Scale title from the company (famous for their successful ‘ Arizona Sunshine ’). Vertigo is working in cooperation with Crazy Bunch , the German game developer who has created this great experience, whereas Vertigo Arcades’ ‘ HAZE ’ software platform allows facilities to operate Arena Scale VR attractions. ‘ Ghost Patrol VR ’ has been created to offer a great family experience, aimed at players between 12-15-years of age, with the HTC VIVE Pro and controllers, and a PC backpack computer, in a 20-minute experience. Escape Room and VR game operators Wing Entertainment were kind hosts, allowing KWP representatives to play the new game at their Omescape London Aldgate venue. We appreciate all the support given during difficult conditions.

During July, another VR developer announced the culmination of their efforts under lockdown, with immersive developer SPREE Interactive , in partnership with I.E. Parks – the legendary Italian bumper car manufacturer. The companies announced the launch of their ‘ Smart Bumper Car ’. Building on 100-years of attraction history, with the new era of the bumper cars which are fully-immersive – under the ‘ Multi-Purpose Device ’ (MPD) patented brand – a new touchscreen has been incorporated into the ride vehicle, detecting various connected devices, and acting as a central brain. This customizes the platform, which also includes content introduction – at three levels.

The first level is the introduction, where SPREE came in towards adapting their VR expertize and optical tracking technology, to create a dedicated VR experience, (building on the experience that the company gained on working on the Erlebnispark Schloss Thurn theme park in Nuremberg, with their VR bumper car project back in 2018). Employing the PICO Neo standalone VR headset, with the SPREE integration directly into the MPD equipped bumper car, the characteristics of the I.E. Parks platform is that it is only for indoor installation, with each car equipped with its own reference pole and tracking markers.

The system was stated as being able to be applied to existing I.E. Parks bumper car systems (dependent on the tracks and model size), as an upgrade opportunity to become smart bumper cars. The MPD system was also employed to totally upgrade the bumper car experience, adding communication between cars, and adding player customization application. This brings the bumper car into the social media age, in this second level, with players and audience communicating through the touchscreen, and from audiences’ smartphones (a true social media equipped experience). But along with the MPD, VR experiences are possible, the second level adding a “ Gamification ” element, with interactivity added to the attraction via the touchscreen and supported devices.

The overall element of the MPD-equipped bumper car, is the move towards a digital element for the operator – moving from the conventional paper token operation system and migrating to a RFID or smart payment solution. I.E. Parks is looking towards a multi-option solution, with the operator able to offer customers VR, socially-connected and interactive. The digital gamification of the bumper car experience is seen as driving the future experience of the popular attractions. The veteran attraction manufacturer has also been working on a dedicated document on sensitization of their rides and shared the comprehensive information on best practice.

SPREE Interactive would go on to make another announcement, again following on from previews that were given during IAAPA 2019. The company now revealed the launch of ‘ Mission to Mars ’, a partnership between Hollywood FX house Pixomondo , SPREE , and with an educational narrative from broadcaster ProSieben 's ‘ Galileo ’ television program. The 10-player, 15-minute VR experience, has the guests taken on an adventure to investigate humanity’s possible survival on the red planet. Employing PICO VR headsets, and the unique SPREE patented tracking system, the platform has been packaged as a pop-up installation for shopping malls, museums, science centers and FEC sites. SPREE revealed that the first installation will be an exclusive placement during August, at the Forum Schwanthalerhohe shopping mall in Munich (as a paid attraction).