You may remember VRFocus reporting on location-based virtual reality (VR) specialist Dreamscape Immersive opening a pop-up location in Los Angeles earlier this year to showcase its brand new experience, Alien Zoo, for a month. That was just a precursor to today’s announcement, with the company announcing today that its flagship location in Westfield Century City will open this December.
This first location will see the introduction of three original VR adventures, designed for guests of all ages to experience the magic of immersive storytelling.
Alien Zoo
Allows viewers to travel to a larger than life, intergalactic haven where they come face-to-face with endangered alien creatures from across the galaxy.
The Blu: Deep Rescue
Dreamscape’s co-production with WeVR, a descent into the ocean to explore dazzling underwater worlds and aquatic life soon becomes an urgent mission to rescue a trapped baby Blue Whale and unite it with its mother.
Lavan’s Magic Projector: The Lost Pearl
Inside this heart-pumping adventure, participants will be challenged to unlock clues, escape treacherous traps, and work together as they discover the secret of The Lost Pearl.
“At its heart, Dreamscape is about merging the scope and emotional power of cinema with the pure visceral excitement of a great theme-park ride — all within a totally new VR technology that allows our audience to enter into and become part of the story,” notes Walter Parkes, co-chairman of Dreamscape Immersive in a statement.
The opening marks the start of a period of rapid expansion for Dreamscape Immersive, which includes the introduction of four new stand-alone and in-theatre venues via its partnership with AMC Theatres. Markets that AMC has identified for new Dreamscape destinations, include Dallas/Ft. Worth, Columbus Ohio, and the New York/New Jersey metro area. Plans are underway to open these locations during 2019.
“What sets Dreamscape VR apart from all others are the magical minds responsible for crafting such captivating, immersive experiences, the likes of which has never been seen before,” said Adam Aron, CEO and President of AMC Entertainment. “Audiences have come to expect innovations from our company, and Dreamscape and AMC are going to deliver a next-level entertainment option.”
You can purchase advance tickets for the Westfield location starting today from Dreamscape Immersive’s website. For further updates keep reading VRFocus.
Industry specialist Kevin Williams of KWP, concludes his report on the latest developments shaping the digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) sector and all things to do with Commercial virtual reality (VR) deployment seen internationally. In this final part we see the drive for new investment and the realities and speculation on the market’s true worth.
With this final part of our coverage and we rush from Germany, to the Czech-Republic, and a major event in the country’s capital, underlined the influence that this new commercial entertainment utopia is having on the investment community. Held at the beginning of September, Future Port Prague was a two-day gathering of innovative technology trends and influential speakers on the subject. Along with dedicated conference events there was a showcase arena that comprised demonstrations of the latest tech-trends, ranging from Drone racing, electric-automobiles, smart home appliances and 3D printing to just name some of the exhibits. As part of this, local Czech developers were also promoting their influence on the scene, and VR made a big showing.
Future Port Prague 2018 – A packed outdoor festival conference stage. (Credit: KWP)
We have already mentioned in part one of this feature Beat Games; the Czech-based company had a version of the Beat Saber VR arcade setup demonstrating to attendees in the VR Zone of the event. It was interesting to see that unlike normal VR arcade deployments of the game, this enclosure used the latest technology from new industry start-up LIV. The green-screen enclosure and specially tracked virtual camera, placed the player in the centre of the action, superimposing them into the virtual environment – but not only creating a great audience element, the LIV system has been developed to offer a unique takeaway, with the player able to download a video of their ‘performance’, with appropriate social media hooks. The company looking to deploy this platform at several VR arcades.
LIV offers an added element to the Beat Saber experience. (Credit: KWP)
Another local Czech-based developer is DIVR Labs – the company famous for a local Prague tourist attraction that is seeing phenomenal business. Golem VR (not to be confused with the otherGolem), the attraction is one of the largest free-roaming virtual experiences operating. The basement of the local Prague Hamleys toy store transformed to accommodate a backpack-based VR experience using Oculus CV1’s. Groups of up to four guests traverse the virtual environment – in an experience that sees them transported through time to the 16th century, to discover the mythical Golem and its creator in an interpretation of the story. DIVR has partnered with Hamleys to develop this first free-roaming VR adventure that has no weapons or shooting (one of the first of its kind). The company in negotiations to open additional venues.
A view of the Golem VR experience at Hamleys in the city centre. (Credit: KWP)(Credit: KWP)
Returning to Future Port Prague, and another Czech-based developer, VRgineers took an exhibition space to offer the first public demonstrations of their XTAL head-mounted display (HMD). This system offers what the company calls an Enterprise-ready solution with a world’s first AutoEye system, offering automatically aligned lenses to the user’s eyes as well as an incredible wide field of view. The system has already been taken up by the local automotive industry, and the company is now in the process of receiving additional investment towards offering the platform too interested location-based VR developers. The company running at the event the ability to fly in a networked aerial combat using the visual fidelity achieved with the XTAL.
The XTAL headset in action. (Credit: KWP)
The next phase of high-end VR headsets has seen a shift in focus towards Enterprise opportunities (a sector prepared to pay for a technological lead). Most recently Kickstarter-funded Pimax demonstrated in Europe the production version of the Pimax 8K wide-field of view system, but also at the same time revealed a cost-reduced version. We saw at the Chinese Amusement trade conference in March one of the first Chinese attraction developers experimenting with the Pimax dev-kit on their robotic arm motion platform, and there are reports of at least one major VR park developer looking to deploy this at their site.
VR Enlightenment – Up in the air in a Pimax back at the Asia Amusement & Attractions (AAA) Expo 2018. (Credit: KWP)
The consideration to a wholly focused Enterprise initiative was also seen from StarVR, the company’s Vice Chairman Jerry Kao reported as saying the company was shifting its operational focus to high-end enterprise applications, with the location-based entertainment market to aerospace and automotive. This was reported following the companies unveiling of the StarVR One HMD during SIGGRAPH in Canada. The new headset offering what the company calls a “100% human viewing angle” is clearly packaged to address a DOE centric business model; building on previous associations with IMAX, SEGA and the VRPark in Dubai, as well as through VR attraction projects with Starbreeze
This year’s SIGGRAPH saw a major push towards location-based VR application of the latest high-end graphics and computer power – many exhibitors showing a shift towards this new business dimension. Leading tracking specialists OptiTrack, introduced their new Active Puck Mini at the event, offering a cost effective and 40% reduced option. The company confirmed that along with conventional motion capture business the system had Location-Based entertainment offerings squarely in their sites. The company has been deployed in many of the leading free-roaming VR installations, and OptiTrak has partnered with Dreamscape Immersive, offering their tracking solution, as well as working in conjunction with several other developers.
Dreamscape Immersive, have been in the news for the tests of their own free-roaming Alien Zoo concept – and the company partnered with movie theatre chain AMC Entertainment late last year, the deal coming after closing some $20 million (USD) of their Series B funding. It is this drive by the movie theatre business to embrace the opportunities of LBE VR that has seen momentous developments in recent weeks. One of the biggest was the announcement that Canadian cinema giants Cineplex had signed a strategic partnership with VRstudios (famous for their VRcade platform and VR experiences). The deal saw Cineplex strategically invest in their VR business, with at least 40 multiplex and location-based entertainment centres planned in the Canada territory by 2021.
Group of players start their progress through VRcade’s Terminal 17 at IAAPA 2017. (Credit: KWP)
This undertaking is mirrored by other cinema chains taking the plunge. The VOID’s “hyper-reality” location-based entertainment (LBE) operation, announced the first “In-Theatre” VR installation in the States – following the signing of an exclusive expansion agreement with leading entertainment and media company Cinemark. This development also saw The VOID LBE VR venues opening across Canada. This news follows on from continuing developments in the movie-theatre sector to embrace the opportunity of VR attractions tailored for their unique audience mix. With the expansion of the operation The VOID was also linked to brand new game content building on influential Intellectual Properties (IPs) – a joint venture of ILMxLAB, a division of Lucasfilm, and The VOID, will see a “one-of-a-kind, original adventure” based in the Wreck-it Ralph films’ unique world (tentatively called Ralph Breaks VR). This is the first of several immersive virtual reality properties from the developer, based on film licenses, building on previous Ghostbusters and Star Wars experiences.
Investing into the cinema scene has gained momentum as the theatre business has seen in the US a 16% decline in ticket sales, attributed to a need for a more diverse offering for the “millennially-minded” audience hoping to be attracted to their locations. Following a spate of mergers and acquisitions in this sector the market has fixated on finding an entertainment-mix to incorporate as a “in-theatre” offering. As we reported in our coverage from the LBE VR summit, manufacturers such as D-BOX Technologies had invested in their own D-BOX Cinematic VR Experience which launched earlier in the year at an Ottawa theatre.
D-BOX’s cinema seat put through its paces with the latest VR experiences created for this sector. (Credit: KWP)
This also brings us to developer Nomadic, who have been developing their own location-based adventure-based, tactile VR experiences – the company has promoted heavily in the cinema industry (presenting at the 2017 CinemaCon, and reportedly raising some $6 million in seed funding). Focused initially on a in-theatre approach, the company recently announced they had partnered with Vertigo Games to deploy a turn-key, modular-based VR platform based on Arizona Sunshine LB Elite. The first installations schedule to open fall this year. How much this space will mirror the wireless VR experience seen at Gamescom, in Germany recently has yet to be revealed. But this nicely takes us full circle from where this coverage began.
Arizona Sunshine LBE at Gamescom 2018. (Via HTC)
In just a matter of months and we have seen a level of investment in immersive entertainment focusing on developing virtual reality – far surpassing the previously wild speculation of the consumer VR sector. We have seen colourful analysis on the worth of the Commercial Entertainment or LBE VR market – most notably the SuperData chart that looked at a $995 million valuation of Location-Based entertainment by 2021. And we have seen other charts rise the gambit as high as $12 Billion by 2023 (Greenlight Insights), hopeful speculation to be sure – but based on a growing hunger to maximise the aspirations of the audience, to the abilities of this sectors technology, where the consumer equivalent has failed to deliver (for whatever reasons).
LBE Market Forecast via SuperData
It is important to understand that the VR arcades scene is still at a very early stage of development and has by no means established itself as a dependable business model. One such example of this is the IMAX pilot scheme to establish their concept of IMAX VR LBE operations. News recently broke that two of the seven opened sites had been closed (one in New York and one in Shanghai). The IMAX board had already revealed at the beginning of the year in an investor call that the sites were not all operating at the expected financial level, and there was no real surprise that the roll out was being reversed.
On a recent visit to the only European IMAX VR location in Manchester, the site was seen to be closed off for a private party – and while claimed to still be popular, it was revealed that the adjacent Odeon cinema had been giving away vouchers for free VR experiences, with the purchase of movie tickets; in a hope to drive some business. We have also heard reports of major reshufflings of executive teams and complete management replacements at some of the early LBE VR manufacturers and operators, The VOID saw the departure of their CTO and CEO, while other operations in pivoting towards a commercial entertainment business model have had to drastically restructure their executive team, unable to fathom the realities of the DOE business.
But we have not seen anything yet, and one of Europe’s largest amusement and attraction conventions is about to take place in a matter of weeks – already sources have revealed a record number of new VR attractions about to be launched. While the UK amusement trade will hold their Autumn Coin-Op Show (ACOS), taking place at Olympia London during October, and will include the first London Future of Immersive Leisure (FOIL) seminar run alongside ACOS, focusing on the business opportunities presented by immersive technology to the UK’s out-of-home entertainment industry (this event hosted by our consultancy KWP) – look out on VRFocus for the latest developments from these events in the days and weeks to come.
Having secured new funding in December 2017, location-based virtual reality (VR) specialist Dreamscape Immersive has opened a new location at Westfield Century City Mall in Los Angeles, California. On show for one month only will be a new experience called Alien Zoo.
The 12-minute experience -allow for around 40 minutes in total – will equip up to six visitors with a light backpack, sensor-equipped gloves, shoe coverings, and VR headset before going on a fantastical journey where they’ll encounter massive beasts, play with adorable and exotic creatures, and fight deadly predators whilst being able to touch, feel, and smell the surroundings.
Suitable for ages 10 and up and at least 48 inches tall, Alien Zoo can accommodate guests who use wheelchairs but they must be able to transfer into one of Dreamscape Immersive’s specially equipped Zoo wheelchairs. Anyone under the age of 13 must be accompanied by an adult.
The experience opens today with showstimes as follows: Monday – Saturday: First show at 12:00PM, Last show at 8:40PM; Sunday: First show at 11:00AM, Last show at 7:00PM. Tickets retail for $20 USD each and you’ll need to be fairly quick as slots are selling fast. At the time of writing this week is already sold out and next week only has a few time slots available each day. Alien Zoo will only be open until 2nd March.
The company is collaborating with AMC Entertainment to open up six Dreamscape Immersive VR Centers in both North America and the UK but has yet to give a timeline for these plans. The expansion plans were helped by an investment round that secured the company $30 million.
When Dreamscape Immersive reveals where and when it plans on opening more VR locations, VRFocus will keep you updated.
Dreamscape Immersive, the location based VR startup, today announced the public debut of a limited engagement VR experience called Alien Zoo. Now taking reservations at Westfield Century City, LA, California, the multiplayer experience will be open to the public for a single month.
Alien Zoo is an experience that accommodates up to 6 users on an extraterrestrial journey where, according to Dreamscape, you’ll witness a fictional assortment of the galaxy’s “most endangered species.” The experience, which Dreamscape says uses “an entirely new VR technology that engages all of your senses,” includes alien creatures such as Skyrays, Megaraffes, and Frogcats.
The experience is said to take 40 minutes. The set-up includes a light backpack, sensor-equipped gloves, shoe coverings, and a VR headset that can accommodate glasses.
Guests must be at least 48 inches tall and 10 years old, while guests under 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets cost $20, and are now available for purchase until Alien Zoo’s limited run ends on March 2nd, 2018.
Dreamscape Immersive says they’ll be opening up to six VR centers in North America and the U.K., something that was announced along with the company’s Series B funding round that amounted $30 million – led by AMC.
This first location will see the introduction of three original VR adventures, designed for guests of all ages to experience the magic of immersive storytelling.
