Nachdem ihr bereits im Tower Tag Summer Cup euer Können im letzten Monat unter Beweis stellen konntet, freuen wir uns heute, die Registrierungen für die Tower Tag League Preseason zu eröffnen. Und wieder warten spannende Preise auf euch!
Tower Tag League Preseason
Ab heute bis zum 31. Juli könnt ihr euch für die Preseason unserer Liga anmelden. Anschließend werden die Matches vom 1. August bis zum 13. September ausgetragen. Da wir die formelle 20/21-Saison im Herbst 2020 starten wollen, haben wir diese Vorsaison für euch vorbereitet.
Alle Teilnehmer/-Innen werden in der Gruppenphase in ihrer eigenen Region spielen. Stehen die besten Teams der Regionen fest, geht es in ein episches Finale, welches wir natürlich live übertragen werden.
Außerdem haben wir wieder spannende Preise für euch in der Planung. Aktuell stehen bereits 1600 Euro in Form von Geld und Sachpreisen bereit. Welche Preise genau auf euch warten, werdet ihr schon bald erfahren.
Wir wünschen euch viel Spaß bei der Teilnahme und freuen uns auf euer Feedback!
Tower Tag ist nun seit etwas über einem Monat auch auf Steam verfügbar und das erstes Turnier mit unseren Partnern LIV und bHaptics ist bereits beendet. Insgesamt kämpften 32 Teams um Preisgelder und VR-Westen von bHaptics im Gesamtwert von 2.700 Euro und es blieb spannend bis zur letzten Minute.
Tower Tag Summer Cup 2020: Das sind die Gewinner/-Innen
Team Gravity und Team Anti Gravity lieferten sich ein finales Match, welches spannender hätte nicht sein können. Innerhalb der letzten Sekunden der fünften Runden holte sich Team Gravity den entscheidenden Punkt und sicherte sich damit ein Preisgeld von 800 Euro und zwei Westen von bHaptics. Team Anti Gravity und Riotboyz sicherten sich Platz 2 und 3 und Mr. Q wurde zum besten Spielenden des Turniers.
Wir sind bereits dabei, die nächsten Turniere und Wettkämpfe für euch vorzubereiten. Der Summer Cup war nur der Start und wir freuen uns, schon bald unsere zukünftigen Pläne mit euch teilen zu können.
Tower Tag is a PVP VR shooter that released in early access on Steam and Viveport last month for PC VR. The game was previously available exclusively in VR arcades worldwide, but has now released online for players with headsets at home.
The developers at VR Nerds describe Tower Tag as a “high-octane blaster fights with fast-paced movement, even in small play spaces,” which uses a grappling hook mechanic to allow for quick and accurate movement while also being designed to limit motion sickness. The team was inspired to create a VR game that matched the same adrenaline rush you get from physical arcade shooter formats like paintball or laser tag. You play in teams, fighting with virtual blasters to take control of as many tower platforms as you can.
The PvP shooter was originally available in more than 1,300 VR arcades across 40 different countries, according to VR Nerds. However, Tower Tag has now released online to the public, and the team is hosting its first online tournament open to the public running through July 5 with games played in 4v4 format in elimination game mode with qualifiers played in regional groups. Registration is available online until the June 19 start date.
The game is only available for PC VR at the moment, with support for Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows MR headsets. However, the developers confirmed that the team is working on an Oculus Quest port as well, but don’t have any timing details for when it might be finished.
Tower Tag is available now on Steam and Viveport in Early Access for $19.99.
So langsam ist der Sommer da und wie jeder weiß, ist dies die beste Jahreszeit für Videospiele. Deshalb haben wir uns gedacht, einen kleinen Summer Cup mit euch in Tower Tag zu veranstalten, bei dem sogar saftige Preisgelder und Sachpreise im Gesamtwert von ca. 2.500 Euro auf die Spielenden warten. Ermöglicht wird dies durch VR-Nerds, LIV und bHaptics.
Tower Tag Summer Cup
Die Anmeldung für das Turnier ist bis zum 19.06.2020 auf Toornament möglich.
Kein Geld für ein neues Videospiel? Dann haben wir ein kleines Gewinnspiel für euch! Unter win.tower-tag.com findet ihr hierzu alle Informationen.
Wir würden uns sehr freuen, wenn einige von euch am Turnier teilnehmen, denn wir wollen solche Wettbewerbe gerne häufiger durchführen. Tower Tag ist ein Turnierspiel. Punkt!
Covering the immersive location-based entertainment (LBE) scene for VRFocus as part of his latest Virtual Arena column, industry specialist Kevin Williams returns with the first of a two-part series of observations made while many of the LBE VR venues remain in lockdown. He examines how the commercial entertainment VR scene is still at work, charting new developments in the rental of VR tech, the licensing of VR arcade content for consumer deployment, and new partnerships.
While the whole of the business sector has been on enforced lockdown globally for over nine weeks, developments both to adapt to the situation, as well as prepare for the new normal have been underway, as this considerable business adapts and evolves for life #AfterLockdown.
One of the many furloughed LBE facilities during May. Image credit: KWP
While some cynics attempted to paint the demise of the enterprise entertainment industry in the face of the global pandemic, the reality has been far more positive. While the industry has been bowed (as all) by the enforced voluntary closure of their operations, the interest to re-open and revigorate what has been one of the few burgeoning aspects of this latest phase of VR adoption, has not diminished.
There has even been an interest to attempt to capture in a bottle, those aspects of the location-based entertainment VR scene and recreate them for consumer adaptation – hoping that the success of LBE VR content can be made to work for the encumbered consumer userbase. One such example of this was revealed from studio Golf Scope; the AR and VR entertainment developers, in partnership with Topgolf Entertainment Group, which is widely known for its technology-driven golf entertainment venues. Together the operation launched Pro Putt by Topgolf on Oculus Quest – offering simple VR golfing action, that including a branded recreation of the popular putting action – encapsulating the venue action in one of a series of digital games. While many of the facilities may still be temporarily closed, VR allows the brand to continue.
The virtual recreation of the Topgolf experience. Image credit: Topgolf Entertainment
Another such example of capturing the Out-of-Home entertainment has seen the launch from start-up Adventure Lab, a group of VR developers, who created what they have described as the “World’s first VR live hosted escape room”. The platform currently supports Oculus Quest hardware, allowing players to register online to take part in a connected 40-minute VR escape game, with a live “game master”, acting as host to help players. The first title Dr. Crumb’s School for Disobedient Pets is in early beta, charging $100 for up to four players. The commercial VR escape gaming scene has been incredibly popular before lockdown, and this move hopes to capitalize on the interest from isolated players, bring remote users together, and even supplying captured scenes to share on social media.
The VR Arcade Scene
Another developer hoping to build off of commercial VR popularity, repackaging for consumer consumption, was German-based VR Nerds – the company famous for Tower Tag, a highly competitive PvP capture-the-flag VR experience, played by over 1,000,000 players in arcades worldwide, reportedly available to some 1,300 VR arcades since its launch in 2018. Licensed by Springboard VR, along with porting to the Hologate arena and seeing success in the Japanese VR scene with CA Sega Joypolis installing several units. In May VR Nerds announced that the title would now be accessible for consumers, available on Steam and Viveport for all the leading consumer VR headsets. The ability to relieve the exciting multi-player shooter as it was released in arcades was supported with the developer providing 3D-printable STL files to recreate the gun controller from the game.
Example of the weapon in the ‘Tower Tag’, and the new 3D printed controller for the Quest. Image credit: VR Nerds
The need to feed the interest in VR to an audience that is in lockdown has been a consideration for VR arcade operators with hardware sitting unused. One remedy attempted was seen from The Park Playground. One of the first European VR arcade operations, with their sites temporarily shuttered the company decided to launch a new service. The Beta service, called ‘VR in Home’, is only currently available in the Belgium city of Antwerp – interested players use the operations web page to request loans of an Oculus Quest with appropriate game content, for a minimum four-day rental. What has been nicknamed “the Uber VR arcade!” – the use of hardware as a rental business is not an entirely new idea during the pandemic. In Spain, the Canary Virtual business started a similar service in March including a PC as well as standalone platforms for rental – and all specially cleaned and populated for this service. However, the use of the Oculus Quest in commercial applications has come with its own issues.
The Park Playground VR arena in full swing at the Antwerp location before lockdown. Image credit: The Park Playground
But there have been developments in thinking during this changeable time for the Oculus Quest – one of these has been the re-emergence of ‘Oculus for Business’. Finally unveiled with its commercial machine and supported pricing with a yearly subscription, at the same time saw the removal of any of the “Colocation” firmware facility. A facility that had been teased to so many commercial developers only to be removed some 12-months later. It is expected that many developers will continue with their standalone free-roaming release plans, but now deserting official support, (see out previous coverage if this scene).
Another operator of VR venues, as well as a developer of hardware for this sector, has restructured its operation. European based Neurogaming has been known for the RevolVR tethered enclosure VR experience, as well for its PolygonVR free-roaming multiplayer platform, operated in several venues. During May the company announced the signing of a lucrative licensing deal that will see Estonian start-up NeverBored; who will develop a brand-new version of the four-player PvP Western shooter (RevolVR) for the location-based entertainment sector. At the same time, the new developer has started work on a special consumer version of the videogame that will be launched on the Oculus Quest later in the year, bringing the LBE action to consumer players. Additionally, NeverBored will now take on the role of European distributor for the Neurogaming range of LBE hardware including its free-roaming platform. Operations will be restructured to be ready for the reopening of these businesses internationally.
Players competing in the Wild West blaster ‘RevolVR’. Image credit: KWP
This is the end of the first part to this exclusive coverage of the developing immersive commercial entertainment industry. The second part, looking at the new trends moving into reopening and the future of the scene, follows shortly.
Wir haben es geschafft! Unser Spiel Tower Tag ist nun auf Steam verfügbar und wir könnten stolzer nicht sein. Zwar befinden wir uns noch im Early Access und haben noch einige Feature auf unserer Liste, aber nun können wir endlich mit euch gemeinsam an den nächsten Schritten arbeiten.
Tower Tag jetzt auf Steam mit druckbaren Gun Holder
Tower Tag startete als reiner VR-Arcade-Titel und dementsprechend haben wir immer versucht, die Erfahrung durch zusätzliche Elemente zu erweitern. So wurden die Spielenden mit Feedback-Westen und Gun Controllern ausgerüstet und auf eine echte Plattform mit einem Turm geschickt. Den Turm können wir nur schwer in eure Wohnzimmer bringen, aber auf einen Gun Controller wollten wir nicht verzichten. Daher bieten wir die Dateien für den Druck kostenlos an und die Daten dürfen auch gerne modifiziert werden. Aktuell ist die Halterung mit der Oculus Rift S und Oculus Quest kompatibel. Weitere Modelle werden folgen. Ebenso planen wir auch selbst Halterungen zu produzieren.
Da ihr ohnehin bereits wisst, worum es in Tower Tag geht, ersparen wir euch an dieser Stelle eine lange Erklärung. Wir würden uns jedoch wahnsinnig freuen, einige von euch auf unseren Servern zu treffen. Tower Tag steht ab sofort für 17,99 Euro auf Steam bereit und wartet auf euch.
Bisher war Tower Tag ein exklusiver Titel für VR-Arcades. Am 28. Mai 2020 wird unser Spiel auch auf Steam und Viveport erscheinen und seine rasante Action in die Wohnzimmer der Spielenden rund um den Globus bringen.
Tower Tag erscheint am 28. Mai auf Steam und Viveport
Tower Tag wurde so konzipiert, dass es leicht zu erlernen und schwer zu meistern ist. Zwei Teams kämpfen mit virtuellen Blastern gegeneinander, um ein Sci-Fi-Schlachtfeld zu dominieren. Ihr werdet Teil eines Teams und bewegt euch mit einer Art “Greifhaken” schnell zwischen den Plattformen, während ihr den Schüssen der Gegner ausweicht. Ihr könnt euch einen strategischen Vorteil verschaffen, indem ihr die Angriffsrouten eures Teams sorgfältig auswählt und entscheidende Plattformen einnehmt.
Um die Genauigkeit noch weiter zu erhöhen, könnt ihr spezielle Tower-Tag-Halterungen nutzen, in die der VR-Controller einrastet. Diese könnt ihr euch schon bald selbst als 3D-Modell drucken und so eine reale Waffe mit beiden Händen halten, die der virtuellen Waffe im Spiel genau entspricht. Dies gibt euch aufgrund des veränderten Schwerpunkts zusätzliche Zielgenauigkeit und erhöht das Gefühl des Eintauchens in das Spiel. Aktuell evaluieren wir verschiedene Optionen für alle, die keinen Zugang zu einem 3D-Drucker haben, einschließlich der Massenproduktion der Halterungen.
Tower Tag wird am 28. Mai 2020 auf Steam und Viveport mit Unterstützung für PCVR-Headsets (Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index und Windows Mixed Reality) als Early Access verfügbar sein. Noch vor der vollständigen PCVR-Veröffentlichung können interessierte Personen das Spiel bereits auf den offiziellen Tower Tag-Seiten auf Steam und Viveport auf ihre Wunschliste setzen.
If you’ve milked the life out of all the videogames in your library then it’s time for some new ones. As VRFocus likes to do every Friday, here are a few titles arriving in the next week you may want to take a look at.
Honor and Duty: D-Day – Strange Games Studios
An online PVP shooter set during WWII, Honor and Duty: D-Day provides a variety of gameplay modes such as Team Deathmatch, Attack and Defend and Battle Royale, allowing for 32 player online matches. Originally released on console, this remastered version will include additional maps, new weapons and the option for players to jump into planes, jeeps and tanks.
Previously an exclusive title for VR arcades, Tower Tag is another PvP shooter for PC VR players. Combining high-octane blaster fights with fast-paced movement, the title features a grappling-hook mechanic to move through the arenas. Tower Tag offers 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 matches across Team Deathmatch, Elimination and Goal Tower modes.
Originally a PC VR release, Hotel R’n’R is a pure smash fest set in several hotel locations. You were once a struggling musician but thanks to a deal with the devil you are now a famous rock star. There’s just one small caveat, Satan wants you to cause as much destruction on your world tour as possible. You have to make an expensive mess without hotel management catching you and getting you arrested.
Supported platforms: PlayStation VR
Launch date: 28th May
Yoren – undefinedcompany
Set for an early access release, Yoren is an experimental magic sandbox where you can cast spells by drawing rune gestures, explore the open world to collect crafting ingredients for potions and battle numerous bosses.
There have been many industries heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns many governments have had to enforce. Location-based entertainment (LBE) venues fall into this list and when these measures ease virtual reality (VR) centres will have to employ stringent practices to ensure public safety. One of the biggest companies focused on this space is Hologate which has recently developed new Hygiene and Safety Standards in partnership with Cleanbox.
Publishing the new standards on its website, Hologate provides instructions for standard and advanced cleaning methods so that venues can create customer peace of mind.
These cover all the various aspects of Hologate’s hardware; headsets, controller, haptic vests and Blitz. In the standard method (imaged below) staff can follow a three-step process, checking devices for any wear and tear before thoroughly cleaning down with sanitising wipes and then drying. This may all be common sense when dealing with hardware which people touch and put on their faces but how often do arcade machines get wiped down?
The second more advanced step is the Cleanbox UVC light cleaning solution. Making eco-friendly, medical grade, Ultraviolet-C cleaning equipment, Cleanbox now offers Hologate owners a second level of protection to decontaminate VR headsets.
Available in two and four-player package options retailing for $3,600 USD and $7,200 respectively. Users simply place the headset inside the Cleanbox and wait 60 seconds, with the UVC process 99.99% effective in destroying viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
Hologate has over 300 locations in 35 countries across the globe, providing custom, small footprint multiplayer solutions. The platform offers exclusive experiences including Das Boot: VR Escape, The Angry Birds Movie 2 Prank Attack VR, Tower Tag and World of Tanks VR.
It’s these sort of steps all LBE VR locations need to employ as they look to reopen in the coming months. How many survive once lockdown measures are rolled back is another matter. For further Hologate updates, keep reading VRFocus.
Covering the immersive Out-of-Home entertainment scene for VRFocus, in his latest Virtual Arena column, industry specialist Kevin Williams reports in two parts on the new phase of investment with the growth in “Arena-Scale VR – Standalone”, This first part looking at the influence the new Oculus Quest has had on the deployment of this latest phase of location-based entertainment (LBE) VR, seeing phenomenal growth in interest.
“Arena-Scale VR” – the ability for groups of players to compete in the same virtual world has proven to be a big trend in the latest phase of commercial VR entertainment. Offering a unique element for this VR application, totally unachievable from a consumer perspective. Currently, the popular trend was for backpack PC’s to be employed to supply the virtual experience – but with the advancements in technology a new category has emerged with “Arena-Scale VR – Standalone”.
Employing standalone headsets with positional tracking, and enough processing power to create compelling content, one benefit is the ability to wirelessly communicate with each other, and in some cases additional peripherals and operator management screens; removing the cost and complexity of the backpack PC solutions.
One of the first examples of a LBE Standalone Arena-Scale experiences. Image credit: KWP
Oculus Attempts to Enter the Arena
The first series of standalone headsets started to make an appearance in 2018, and one of those which received a special amount of attention was the Oculus Quest. However, the interest in using this kind of hardware in location-based entertainment (LBE) has not been a priority for the manufacturer, until recently.
Oculus underlined a new commitment to LBE VR when, at 2018s Oculus Connect 5 (OC5) convention, the company invited the operator and developer, The VOID, to present an example of its “Hyper-reality” VR attraction (operating in some eleven sites). Running ‘Star Wars: Secret of the Empire’, the demonstration took OC5 delegates through a special enclosure that maps real objects with the virtual world, created in partnership with Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB development studio.
The current chain of VOID locations is using a modified version of the, now discontinued, Oculus CV1 headset in its construction – developed under license. This is just one of a handful of such partnerships. However, in comparison to other VR headset developers, Oculus has been less active in establishing enterprise entertainment partnerships – previously seen as standoffish with regards to the explosion of interest in this application of the virtual hardware.
The same OC5 in San Jose revealed the Oculus Quest (evolving from the Santa Cruz prototype), as a new standalone platform. Separate of the PC offering, seeing the CV1 superseded by the Rift-S, the Quest offered a new cost-effective opportunity with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg promising it would run “Rift-quality experiences”. But it was the opportunity that it represented outside of the consumer market that interested a new group of developers.
During OC5, Oculus started to reposition its sights on a possible pivot to fully support the LBE VR scene. Running alongside The VOID popup installation at the Oculus event, was a demonstration of their Capability Concept Demonstrator (CCD), based on a previous popular CV1 game. ‘Dead and Buried Arena’ was a demonstration created by Oculus with support from the original videogame developers. The demonstration included a 371 square-metre arena, with two teams of three players each, wearing Oculus Quest. The demonstrations illustrated the prototype’s asymmetric “co-location” technology.
At the time of the demonstration, Oculus stated that it expected location-based entertainment (LBE) developers to benefit from the technology developed for the D&BA system. But, after the expenditure of such a complicated demonstration, all news of further investment in this direction ceased, and even the original D&BA team was disbanded internally. On the conference stage, the pivot was on par with the statement from Oculus’ head of experiences, telling the audience that the company now loved the idea of an audience being able to go to a destination and have an experience and to love that experience and continue that adventure at home.
The 2018 artist’s interpretation of how Oculus envisaged an LBE arena. Image credit: Oculus
Oculus Quest would go on to be launched in May of 2019, and by October of that year it was reported that sales had achieved some 500,000 units, but it soon became a very popular seller up to the Christmas period (deliveries in some areas pushed to late-February). The platform is proving to be one of the most successful for VR sales from the Facebook-owned company, since its partnership with Samsung with the Gear VR. But regarding an LBE initiative, none was forthcoming until the end of 2019.
It would not be until the Facebook Developer’s Conference (F8) 2019 that we would see a reversion in the approach to commercial entertainment, with a pivot in the approach for the ‘Oculus for Business Initiative’. This came with the introduction of a new program for the Oculus headset range, including the Quest – led internally by Facebook directly. Oculus for Business had been created as a division in 2017, focused on enterprise customers rather than entertainment.
Others’ Lead the Charge in Standalone
Though receiving very little coverage, major LBE VR deployment of the OculusQuest was undertaken in partnership with leading Japanese video game and amusement operation, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment. This came with the launch of their brand new MAZARIA facility in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, during July 2019, when the latest investment by the corporation in a hybrid VR-amusement crossover was revealed.
This came in the form of ‘PAC-MAN Challenge VR’, a two-player experience which sees players using the Oculus Quest standalone headset to allow players to race around the iconic PAC-MAN play-space, collecting power pills and avoiding ghosts, all in 256 seconds. The title was started by the BANDAI NAMCO “Project-i-Can” team two-years ago, working in cooperation with Oculus, at that time developing the prototype Santa Cruz version that would evolve into Oculus Quest.
Two-players take on the ghosts in PAC-MAN Challenge VR. Image credit: MoguraVR
The second big development surrounding Oculus Quest’s usage in location-based entertainment (LBE), saw ILMxLAB announce a popup training arena based on the ‘Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series’ – in partnership with LBE developer Nomadic. The company announced it was opening at six Cinemark theatres, running ‘Lightsaber Dojo, A Star Wars Experience’ (closing in February). The ILMxLAB videogame is an arcade-style version of the consumer original, using Oculus Quest standalone headsets, players paid some $9.99 for a six-minute experience.
This the first of the main announcements of Oculus supporting the use of their standalone hardware with major IP franchises (ILMxLAB, LucasFilms’ immersive entertainment studio, has connections with the company already, having previously worked together with The VOID projects). Nomadic previously opened its free-roam venue concept under a partnership with Oculus.
Much rumoured, Oculus eventually lifted the veil on its full pivot to support the LBE VR scene. Building on the initial Oculus for Business division’s work, and under the new direction, it was revealed during F8 that new Oculus for Business bundles would be available, supported by the needed Terms of Service (ToS) and warranties for deployment in commercial entertainment and other enterprise applications. This would be supported by a software development kit (SDK) that would allow access to a suite of tools, and most importantly the ‘Co-Location’ platform used for multi-player connectivity – unable to be achieved on the consumer Oculus Quest.
At the beginning of this year, the promise of Oculus support for a standalone VR solution for enterprise was indefinitely put on hold. After the disbanding of the 2018 Capability Concept Demonstrator (CCD) team, Oculus had been attempting to create a workable ‘co-location’ solution on top of the standard SDK that addressed concerns from legal, over tracking accuracy that could lead to injury. Taking much longer than hoped and leading to still being stated as “Available Soon”, months after being promised.
Attempting to stem the floodgates, Oculus for Business went ahead and released an Enterprise User Agreement addendum for the Quest, permitting “Hospitality Entertainment” deployment. But sadly, much of what the LBE sector was waiting for was still prohibited, the addendum seemed more drafted for single-site VR arcades to use the Enterprise licensed Quest but forbidding use of Oculus co-location functionality.
New stipulations saw enterprise developers forced to create their own co-location firmware, and undertake appropriate liability coverage, all to placate the concern overshadowing corporate thinking. However, this “speedbump” has not deterred the entertainment sector from embracing the opportunity, even if they may be looking at alternative VR platforms to release on.
Independent Devs stake their claim
The corporation had initiated the Oculus ISV (Independent Software Vendors) Program to accelerate customer adoption of VR solutions built for Oculus enterprise products. The first of the developers selected by Oculus to support this program was the French location-based entertainment developer, Scale-1 Portal. Earlier in 2019, the company launched its ‘VOXEL ARENA’ platform, which saw networked Oculus Quest systems for four-player competition employed in the LBE VR market. The new system will be launched in March of 2020, with its first title being ‘PANIK’, offering a fun and challenging teamwork-based virtual experience.
Players competing in ‘PANIK’ at one of the first tests of the platform in September. Image credit: Scale-1 Portal
Another member of the Oculus ISV program is Chicken Waffle, an independent developer with a wide track record in content development and with videogames on many of the leading platforms. The company has also partnered with CenterTec, one of the established leaders of the deployment of the concept of VR arcades, with a successful location business that has also expanded into the educational side of the market, to become a community technology centre.
Working with Chicken Waffle, CenterTec has developed its own Oculus Quest powered mobile multi-user solution and has defined several titles that will offer a cost-effective platform. For operators looking at the investment needed to operate a sensible free-roaming offering, this platform will be backed up with the experience gained from operating educational content and will use many of the unique patents held by the operation. But unlike other developers, this system is cross-platform reliant and was seen supporting several of the standalone VR headsets at CES 2020.
Concerning the availability of a software and hardware solution for the VR arcade operators was one aspect under scrutiny with a question over the Oculus Quest availability for LBE deployment. One of the leading providers of commercially licensed VR game content, and venue management solutions, is Springboard VR – an operation with some 500 companies globally deploying their solution, utilising content from all the major consumer game studios, offering suitable VR content licensing through the platform. Most recently, Beat Games (Beat Saber) and VR Nerds (Tower Tag) added their successfully licensed content to this extensive library.
Springboard VR announced during last July its LBE + Education Solution for the platform, offering a device management kit for the Oculus Quest, allowing access for LBE, training and educational content, and for operators to run the system in location-based entertainment venues. This includes the content that had been appropriately licensed with a subscription model for commercial usage. The company is supplying a beta landing page – which at this point has not been updated. Springboard VR is working to support the Oculus Quest and currently supports VR hardware from Pico, HP, and HTC.
The marketing campaign for the beta program for interested supporters. Image credit: Springboard VR
Fennec Labs, an augmented and virtual reality development studio with specialisation in VR arcade content, had a big hand in developing the Springboard VR management platform. The company has been privately working on its own standalone VR platform, having undertaken a detailed evaluation of the current crop of headset options, evaluating Oculus Quest and Pico Neo 2 platforms for their PvP title called ‘RE: COIL’ – offering a new multi-player arena-scale LBE VR experience (the project is not tied to the Oculus API). With the launch in early-2020, the company proposes a basic licensing model for operators to get their hands on this title initially but are intending a complete turnkey model in the future.
SynthesisVR – the developer of one of the most advanced software solutions and management programs for operators of VR arcades and LBE VR venues, has established its own considerable library of the latest commercially licensed VR game content. SynthesisVR revealed its entry into LBE standalone support, having developed a version of its premium platform to support the Oculus Quest, HTC Vive Focus Plus, and Pico, as well as other upcoming Android-based headsets. This agnostic approach will offer VR arcade operators the ability to manage multiple devices, launching content simultaneously across them, and with tools for time management and payment collection (all licensed for commercial deployment).
Studio I-Illusions recently teased us with footage of Space Pirate Arena, in what has been described as a multiplayer “hall-scale” VR game, based on the Oculus Quest, for deployment in commercial locations. It is at an early (beta) stage of development but has seen serious interest from VR arcade operators based on its IP – this is a serious addition to the ranks of content looking at this opportunity.
Sequence from the teaser video of the beta version of ‘Space Pirate Arena’
UK-based developer Make Real, with a background in immersive networked technology solutions for enterprise and Out-of-Home Entertainment, is another entrant working towards releasing its own Oculus Quest LBE experience. The company is working on a four-player networked VR videogame within a shared “co-location” space, whilst a “theatre-scale” AR audience, powered by 5G, mixes the realities scale. Building on a collaborative puzzle solving narrative, the title has been developed in support of the Oculus for Business LBE initiative and is expected to go live in mid-2020, for operators to franchise.
The concluding part of this feature on the Standalone LBE scene follows shortly.
The same OC5 in San Jose 
Much rumoured, Oculus eventually lifted the veil on its full pivot to support the LBE VR scene. Building on the initial 
