Throughout the previous few years, we have seen a plethora of news articles about how virtual reality was going to save the classic arcade. The theory goes that the VR gear is too expensive for home users, therefore it creates an chance for operators to pony up the big bucks to buy it and make their money back by charging a match to play with it. From the MIT Technology Review.
“While many high-end headsets were released last year which may bring virtual-reality experiences to your living space, adoption of this technology remains in its earliest days for a bunch of reasons–it is still bulky, pricey, and there is not all that far to do once you’ve got it on your face. More than two million cans were shipped globally in 2016, according to an estimate from market researcher Canalys, yet this figure pales in comparison to the prevalence of, say, video game consoles (sales of their leading one, Sony’s PS4, topped six million throughout the 2016 holiday season alone). Consumer virtual reality will likely catch on as prices come down and headsets improve. In the meantime, though, a variety of businesses are betting that consumers could possibly be happy to cover a much smaller amount to try the technology with their friends at, say, an arcade, theme park, or even bowling alley.”
It’s tempting to fall into this snare, but in the operator’s perspective VR is a terrible deal. Operators are being asked to pay top dollar for technology that’s all but guaranteed to plummet in value over the very short term. Aside from purchasing a brand new vehicle and driving it a time, I can’t think of a way that you could eliminate money quicker between what you pay and what you will have the ability to get down the street.
Another limitation for operators is that while you might be able to provide a space for VR people to roam around in today, as new VR tech is unveiled, we are going to find the stage expanded from 100 square feet to the whole world. Rather than viewing just the matches in your headset, you will realize the real world with game soft play, www.evernote.com, overlayed. Children can visit the park and relive the knights of the round table or parking garages to take aliens. Since the technology allows more actual world areas to be explored, it is going to make a cramped arcade seem pretty lame in comparison.
VR is already heading for mass market acceptance, but it is demand isn’t being pushed by players who wish to pay big buck to play video games, but such as the BETAMAX that came before it, by people who wish to watch porn in their homes.
Even when an operator can make a little bit of money to the next few decades, after VR achieves critical mass, it will crush whatever earnings stream that operators are dreaming of. Do not believe me? Just check out what is happening in China.
A year later 22,000 of these have closed.
This is an incredible failure rate over such a brief time period and one which should function as a sharp warning to anyone contemplating investing in the VR games. Maybe Dave and Busters is able to take losses over the matches more than Chinese startup arcades, however I doubt most North American operators are going to fare far better using the technology in their game rooms and will just wind up in debt in the close of the day.
The problem essentially boils down to consumers not being prepared to pay a premium to the encounter. Tech In Asia, describes the problem perfectly in their article, on that the Chinese VR boom and bust.
Even if the match was sold out all day, at $1.50 per half hour they are only earning $30 per day. Together with retail rents in North America running $1 — $2 a square foot, there is no way to make the math work, even in the event that you suppose that Americans will pay more to play the matches.
The real world data streaming in from China should serve as a canary in the quarter plantations of North America. Operators who invest large amounts of money on elaborate VR setups will probably find their little VR rooms being substituted by the whole world for a stage. As the installations get cheaper, smaller and more portable, the digital arcades will look more costly, bulky and limited.
Comentarios recientes