14 Days To A Better VR Games

Throughout the last couple of years, we've seen an array of news articles about the way virtual reality was about 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 a match to play it. Even Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong, is attempting to hype the tech since the industry's savior.
"While many high-end headsets were released annually that can bring virtual-reality adventures to your living room, adoption of this technology is still in its earliest days to get a lot of reasons--it's still bulky, pricey, and there is not all that far to do as soon as you've got it on your face. Over two million headsets were shipped worldwide in 2016, according to a quote from market researcher Canalys, but this figure pales in comparison to the popularity of, say, video game consoles (sales of the 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 cans improve. Meanwhile, however, a variety of companies are betting that customers may be pleased to cover a much smaller amount to try the tech with their friends at, say, an arcade, theme park, or bowling alley."
It is tempting to fall into this snare, but from an operator's perspective VR is a terrible deal. Operators are being asked to pay top dollar for tech that's all but guaranteed to plummet in value within the very short term. Aside from purchasing a brand new vehicle and driving it a time, I can not think about a way you could eliminate money quicker between what you pay and what you'll be able to get for it down the road.
Another limit for most operators is that while you might have the ability to supply a room for VR individuals to wander around in today, as new VR technology is unveiled, we're likely to find the point expanded from 100 square feet into the whole world. Rather than viewing just the games from your headset, you will realize the true world with game play overlayed. As the tech allows more actual world areas to be explored, it's going to make a cramped arcade look fairly lame in comparison.
VR is heading for mass market acceptance, but it is demand isn't being pushed by gamers who wish to pay big buck to play with video games, but like the BETAMAX that came before it, by individuals who wish to watch porn in their homes.
Even if an operator can make a little bit of money to the upcoming few years, once VR achieves critical mass, then it will crush whatever earnings flow that operators are dreaming of. Do not believe me? Just check out what is going on in China.
A year later 22,000 of them have closed.
This is an incredible failure rate over this short period of time and one which should serve as a sharp warning to anyone contemplating investing in the VR games. Perhaps Dave and Busters can afford to take losses over the matches longer than Chinese startup arcades, but I doubt most North American operators will fare far better using the tech in their match rooms and will just end up in debt in the end of the day.
The issue essentially boils down to customers not being prepared to pay a premium for the experience. Tech In Asia, clarifies the problem perfectly in their article, on the Chinese VR boom and indoor playground equipment bust.

"Enterprising shop owners leaping into VR are finding it impossible to bill fees akin to cinemas or bowling alleys for a VR experience. 1 VR arcade proprietor told iHeima he saw excited queues when charging US$1.50 for a 30-minute session, but everyone vanished as it rose to US$5. By that sort of revenue it's impossible to pay the lease."
Even if the game was sold out all day, at $1.50 a half hour they are only earning $30 per day.
The actual world information streaming in from China must function as a canary in the quarter mines of North America. Operators who invest large amounts of money on fancy VR setups will soon find their little VR rooms being replaced by the whole world for a stage. As the setups get more expensive, smaller and more portable, the digital arcades will look more expensive, bulky and restricted. I'd like to be proven wrong on this one, but I feel the arcade VR trend is more hype than hope.