The Basic Of VR Games

Over the last couple of years, we have seen a plethora of news articles about how virtual reality was going to save the classic arcade. The idea goes that the VR gear is too expensive for home users, so it creates an opportunity for operators to pony up the big bucks to buy it and make their money back by charging per game to play with it.
"While several high-end headsets were released last year which can bring virtual-reality adventures to your living space, adoption of the technology remains in its earliest days to get a bunch of reasons--it is still bulky, expensive, and there isn't all that far to do as soon as you've got it on your face. More than two million headsets were shipped worldwide in 2016, according to an estimate from market researcher Canalys, yet this figure pales compared to the prevalence of, say, video game consoles (earnings of the top one, Sony's PS4, topped six million throughout the 2016 holiday season alone). Consumer virtual reality will probably catch on as costs come down and headsets improve. In the meantime, however, a number of companies are betting that consumers may be happy to pay a much smaller sum to try the tech with their buddies at, say, an arcade, theme park, or even bowling alley"
It is tempting to dive into this snare, but from an operator's standpoint VR is a terrible deal. Other than buying a brand-new car and driving it a mile, I can not think of a way that you could lose money quicker between what you pay and what you will have the ability to get for it down the street.
Another limitation for most operators is that while you may have the ability to provide a room for VR people to wander around in now, as new VR technology is unveiled, we're going to see the stage expanded from 100 square feet into the entire world. Instead of viewing just the matches from your headset, you'll realize the real world with sport play overlayed. Kids can go to the park and relive the knights of the round table or parking garages to shoot aliens. Since the tech allows more actual world areas to be researched, it is going to earn a cramped arcade look pretty feeble in comparison.
VR is heading for mass market acceptance, but it is demand is not being pushed by gamers who wish to pay big buck to soft play equipment video games, but such as the BETAMAX that came before it, by individuals who want to watch porn in their houses.
Even when an operator can make just a little bit of money to the next few years, once VR achieves critical mass, then it is going to crush whatever earnings stream that operators are dreaming of. Do not believe me? Just check out what is happening in China.
A year after 22,000 of these have closed.
That is an unbelievable failure rate over this brief time period and one which should function as a sharp warning to anyone considering investing in the VR games. Maybe Dave and Busters can afford to take losses over the games more than Chinese startup arcades, however I doubt that most North American operators are going to fare far better with the technology in their game rooms and will only wind up in debt at the end of the day.
The issue essentially boils down to consumers not being willing to pay a premium to the experience. Tech In Asia, clarifies the issue perfectly in their article, on that the Chinese VR boom and bust.

"Enterprising shop owners jumped into VR are finding it impossible to bill fees akin to cinemas or bowling alleys to get a VR experience. One VR arcade owner told iHeima that he saw excited queues when charging US$1.50 to get a 30-minute session, but everybody vanished when it rose to US$5. From that kind of revenue it's not possible to cover the lease."
Even if the match was sold out daily, at $1.50 a half hour they are only earning $30 a day.
The real world information streaming in from China should function as a canary in the quarter mines of North America. Operators who invest considerable amounts of money on elaborate VR setups will soon find their little VR rooms being substituted by the entire world for a stage. As the installations get more expensive, smaller and more mobile, the virtual arcades will look more expensive, bulky and limited.