TechRadar wrote:
VR's future is in arcades, not the living room – and we've seen it in action
The main draw of a VR bar or VR arcade is the ease of entry: while an Oculus Rift VR headset and set of controllers will set you back $399 / £399 (around AU$600), it’s just a tenth of the price to try it out in a dedicated (and casual) location for an hour or so.
https://vrawards.aixr.org/
"The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities"
Agreed @RuneSR2, if your system is suitable from the start, you aim at mass adoption through consumer - but sadly the teams behind VR's various attempts back at this latest phases start, could not see the "wood for the trees" and thought that a VR community platform needing a level of experience to operate effectively, was ready for consumer at the start. Like PC's and video gaming in general, it would have been best to start with a commercial entertainment offering supported by a growing consumer push - though certain "business issues" forced some developers down a blinkered "consumer only" path.
The claims that VR in out-of-home entertainment would not be a thing, and amusement "was a niche" came back to haunt those that remain, and now we see a mass "pivot" to enterprise and entertainment in this sector (see my recent feature on this).
The claims that VR in out-of-home entertainment would not be a thing, and amusement "was a niche" came back to haunt those that remain, and now we see a mass "pivot" to enterprise and entertainment in this sector (see my recent feature on this).
bigmike20vt said:
well @kevinw729 All I can say is I hope you are wrong!. Dont take that the wrong way, obviously I dont want to see your industry fail either but my hope is it need not be an either/or scenario and both niches can live in harmony together......
Please @bigmike20vt - I am 100% in agreement - I have never wanted to see an either/or situation - I want to see consumer VR be dominant, allowing our sector (as we always do) move on to the next big thing. It was others (not on this forum but around) that felt that you could not have both but had to be a supporter only of consumer VR or you were a traitor or had some nefarious motives.
I can understand some of the "fan-atics" wanting it only to be about their consumer VR interests, and that anything else would de-focus attention and so was treated as bad. While others were badly informed or became myopic to the opportunities that commercial promotion could offer consumer. And saying that there were some motives towards promoting one approach over another (will leave that one alone).
The new thinking that a commercial LBE VR venue could be use to promote consumer headset purchase, and tournament membership to grow a cross-platform community is 100% what I had hoped for as far back as 2014 - that we are coming late to this realization is really down to the conscious of those in the community that attacked this approach IMHO. (want to be clear not pointing fingers at any individuals, just stating the situation we now face).
The future looks like we will have a co-prosperity community forced on the remaining VR scene no matter if others had hoped for a eco-system to rule as their own.
to use your maths in your OP.. it may cost me a 10th of the price to play for an hr in a VR arcade than it costs me to buy a rift S.
all of a sudden that 1 off payment for my rift starts to look better value - and that was with my rift @ £750 with 3 sensors and touch.
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Oh wow, this brings back memories of discussions in 2013 about the magical "$600 PC to run good VR".
Yes, the multiple plays against biting the bullet and buy the system one off will always be a thing. The argument that popcorn and alcohol is always cheaper when you buy it for home use than in the cinema/bar. With VR I am sure the majority of those on these forums have already managed to get the most out of their consumer VR. Even managing to achieve multi-player experiences (Lone Echo, etc.,) - where the majority of the "mainstream" have not yet entered this environment.
When consulting I try and explain the cross over thus -- new consumer tech is expensive at start, and needs to be "influenced" to become adopted and mainstream. As seen with console gaming (leading from the microcomputer phase) and from 3D gaming (leading from the graphics board phase). All these examples needed amusement to help launch them, as had VR - though in this latest phase of VR adoption (phase four depending on your history), some felt they could bypass the amusement adoption in order to create private eco-systems that would mirror smartphones in controlling and gouging the customer-base.
Those that thought this have been proven wrong and moved on - in many cases trousering great amounts of cash that would have naturally gone into investing into the community and seem to have forced a rethink. So we now see the divergence towards Enterprise / Entertainment - and a re-focusing of consumer VR, PCVR / Standalone. In the middle of this there is an explosion in commercial VR venues in the out-of-home entertainment sphere, and a drawing of the lines between those that are against this on principle and those that are ill informed of the opportunity this offers consumer.
snowdog said:
The only hope that VR Arcades have of surviving is giving customers experiences that can't be played at home. .....
As always a interesting observations, thanks @snowdog - the comment about "customer experience", in the trade is called "Unachievable@Home", and agree, its all about a better experience than can be had from the consumer (theme parks in your backyard). Again, the "traditional VR arcade" has seen a high attrition rate (as with all new phases of investment). I think we will see the "mall VR arcade" experience the greatest impact, but have been surprised by some developments. Was just down in Brighton and saw the popularity of the IMMOTION systems there.
I have heard on this forum the phase "once...run on traditional PC/Laptop.. VR arcades will die..." since 2016 onward. Prior to that @snowdog you will remember the claims that "VR arcades will not happen as we will be able to play on VR PC on launch of CV1". Obviously hindsight is 20x20 - but I think we can say for the "medium term" Out-of-Home VR arcades are still a thing B)
snowdog said:
I don't remember anyone saying that they wouldn't happen.
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Oh, what a selective memory some people have B)
Don't you remember your joke about "Out-of-Home entertainment" back in 2016??
Oh well, so many posts - so hard to keep tabs, I am sure my old mate [wink].
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Plenty of us said it would be a short term thing for the reasons I've given above. Oculus' advancements with Arena Scale VR will have helped VR Arcades but like I've already stated there aren't that many that have the room or the capital to make it happen.
Plenty of us said it would be a short term thing for the reasons I've given above. Oculus' advancements with Arena Scale VR will have helped VR Arcades but like I've already stated there aren't that many that have the room or the capital to make it happen.
Yes, I do remember those comments more recently - nice to see that things have become clearer for some now the market moves more towards an Enterprise footing.
Sadly, you may not be aware the "OculusVR advancements with Arena Scale VR" may not be a thing in the future. The aspirations with the Dead & Buried Arena, seen in 2018 has now been dropped by the company as they refocus on new opportunities.
