6 Examples Of VR Games

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Over the previous few years, we’ve seen an array of news posts about how virtual reality was about to save the timeless arcade. The theory goes that the VR equipment is too expensive for home users, so it creates an chance for operators to pony up the big dollars to buy it and make their money back by charging a match to play it. Even Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong, is attempting to hype the technology since the industry’s savior.
„While many high-end headsets were released last year that can bring virtual-reality experiences to your living room, adoption of this technology remains in its first days to get a lot of reasons–it is still bulky, pricey, and there isn’t all that far to do as soon as you’ve got it on your face. Over two million cans were shipped globally in 2016, according to an estimate from market researcher Canalys, but this figure pales in comparison to the popularity of, say, video game consoles (sales of their leading one, Sony’s PS4, topped six million during the 2016 holiday season ). Consumer virtual reality will probably catch on as prices come down and headsets improve. In the meantime, though, a number of companies are betting that customers may be happy to pay a much smaller sum to try the tech with their friends at, say, an arcade, theme park, or even bowling alley“
It is tempting to fall into this trap, but in the operator’s perspective VR is a terrible thing. Operators are being requested to pay top dollar for tech that is all but guaranteed to plummet in value within the very short term. Aside from purchasing a brand-new vehicle and driving it a mile, I can’t think about a way you could eliminate money faster between what you pay and what you will be able to get for it down the road.
Another limit for most operators is that while you may have the ability to supply a room for VR people to wander around in today, as new VR tech is unveiled, we are likely to see the stage expanded from 100 square feet into the whole world. Rather than viewing just the games in your headset, you will see the real world with sport play overlayed. Children can go to the park and relive the knights of the round table or parking garages to shoot aliens. As the technology allows more actual world areas to be researched, it is going to earn a cramped arcade seem pretty feeble in comparison.
VR is heading for mass market acceptance, however it is demand isn’t being driven by players who want to pay big buck to play with video games, but such as the BETAMAX that came before it, by individuals who want to watch porn in their homes.
Even if an operator can create just a little bit of money to the upcoming few decades, after VR achieves critical mass, it will crush whatever revenue stream that operators are dreaming of. Don’t believe me? Just check out what’s going on in China.
A year after 22,000 of these have closed.
That is an incredible failure rate over such a short period of time and one which should serve as a sharp warning to anyone contemplating investing in the VR games – https://zenwriting.net/richfrantzen71/exactly-what-you-need-wear-for-indoor-climbing. Perhaps Dave and Busters is able to take losses over the games more than Chinese startup arcades, however I doubt most North American operators will fare far better with the tech in their match rooms and will just end up in debt at the end of the day.
The issue basically boils down to customers not being prepared to pay a premium to the experience. Tech In Asia, clarifies the issue perfectly in their own article, on that the Chinese VR boom and bust.

„Enterprising store owners leaping into VR are finding it impossible to charge fees comparable to cinemas or bowling alleys for a VR experience. One VR arcade owner told iHeima he saw eager queues when charging US$1.50 to get a 30-minute session, but everyone vanished when it climbed to US$5. By that sort of revenue it’s not possible to pay the rent.“
Even if the match was sold out daily, at $1.50 per half hour they are just earning $30 a day.
The actual world information streaming in from China must function as a canary in the quarter plantations of North America. Operators who invest considerable amounts of money on elaborate VR setups will probably find their little VR rooms being replaced by the entire world for a stage. Since the installations get more expensive, smaller and more mobile, the digital arcades will look more costly, bulky and limited.