There are many different types of location-based virtual reality (LBVR) attractions available on the market. While looking through all of them, it can quickly become overwhelming. There are key factors that you need to consider and the following questions will help you in your decision.
What is your Audience and Where do They Come From
This might sound basic but this is really important to think about.
- If your audience is kids and families, maybe you want to explore a new market or, on the contrary, you want to boost their attendance by looking at high throughput attractions, like the VEX Arena, that will perfectly match the needs of birthday parties and other events.
- If you have less foot traffic but your customers are ready to pay more, you’ll want to provide them with top of the line entertainment, something they won’t forget, like the VEX Adventure does.
- And, if you’re located on the outskirts of a big city, maybe you’re looking at attracting people from farther away, you’ll need something really unique to make it worth the drive by combining different experiences.
The answer to that question will already give you a better idea of what attraction will be the best fit for your center. Are you looking for throughput that will let you organize birthdays and events? Are you looking for a unique experience that will attract new customers? Maybe both?
Are You Willing to Compromise on Quality ?
You will find many suppliers of VR attraction during your research. Don’t go for DIY solutions with a bunch of different components and pieces of software stuck together. Choose a supplier that produces and controls the quality of its entire solutions themselves. You want your turnkey solutions to make sense as a whole attraction.
The quality of your attraction will also be determined by its game offering. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a huge number of games to make more money. What you need to be on the lookout for is the quality of the experience. To this day, many VR experiences from suppliers, even top-seller ones, offer sub-par experiences. Why would a customer pay and come again if what they already paid for was bad or if they found better elsewhere?
Quality is also paramount because it unconsciously reflects on your center’s quality. If your customers experience bad operation, bad graphics or just not fun gameplay, you will get their money once but their experience will be tainted and they will have a negative image of your center.
How Automated do You Want your Attraction to Be
The LBVR market is exploding and you can find attraction on a wide spectrum. From coin-operated to gamemaster-operated attractions, you will need to make a choice. Do you want a done-and-forget attraction, where people come in, put their money, play the experience and leave? Or do you want an attraction that requires a game master the whole time, one or even multiple operators per session? Coin-operated attractions bring in a non-negligible amount of money but they’re usually basic experiences that don’t attract a crowd. Fully staffed attractions offer something different but it’s hard to make it worth your while when multiple operators are needed, even for small groups.
The answer, then, probably lies in that spectrum. An attraction automated enough that it doesn’t require an employee at all times but not so fully automated that it loses its appeal.
Why are Anchor Attractions Needed ?
Since virtual reality is still new in the mind of many customers, having a great VR anchor attraction will always be a good move for businesses. It won’t cannibalize your other activities because it will bring a completely new crowd through your doors. In fact, out of all VEX Adventure’s players, 67% came to that facility to try it specifically. Once those new customers are introduced to your business, they will spend money on your other activities which will make the global ROI even higher.
Although it’s a smart step in the right direction, having an anchor attraction is not the be-all and end-all of a successful VR implementation in your center. Actually, having multiple VR activities in the same business is a great way to ensure each of your VR attractions maximizes its revenue feeding off each other. In our own leisure centers, we see that 43% of people who try the VEX Arcade will pay for a VEX Adventure in their current or next visit.
