Commentary

Immersive entertainment rises on several fronts despite pandemic

In the absence of trade shows during COVID-19, immersive experience venues are rising, possibly changing the out of home entertainment landscape.

December 21, 2020 by Kevin Williams

The lack of a physical trade convention because of COVID-19 has meant that much of the new investment and trends are only being revealed piecemeal. That said, immersive entertainment platforms using the latest projection and LED displays have been gaining ground, and the promotion of new developments towards deployment in a wider selection of locations has proven a fascinating trend.

The use of interactive, full immersion display technology as the future impetus has recently taken shape from a number of quarters.

Computer automatic virtual environment returns

Falcon's Creative Group announced its "GameSuite," an immersive digital gaming environment, comprising 3D tracking and gesture recognition technology, a high-end laser projection system and digital surround sound. This modular system includes a lounge area for the players, supporting touchscreen tables. The concept builds on offering each group their own bay — a game system that hopes to support the "bubble" playing group and can be their own self-contained entertainment environment.

This system is the nearest application of the concept of the computer automatic virtual environment, which originated in the 1990s. It uses projection to immerse the user's vision and simulate the representation of the virtual environment. This builds on other similar installations such we have reported on over the years, such as the sports enclosures such as the "Swing Suite" installations from Topgolf, or the recently launched Electric Gamebox immersive entertainment installation. This facility announced its third location, and its first North American installation at Grandscape, The Colony, in Texas.

These immersive entertainment attractions are married to a strong food and beverage offering that sees cocktails at their heart, seeming to point towards a new audience that has been labeled as part of the "Kidults" revolution. This is a young demographic, able to drink and socialize with their friends, but looking for entertainment with their socializing far more so than previous generations.

Immersive play as physical fitness

But immersive play environments are also being used to address the weight put on in overindulging in the F&B emporiums. Sphery recently announced its exercise immersive "Exergame" system with the "ExerCube," an immersive projection screen enclosure that uses interactive game content to create a fitness environment for one or two players. The three-projector system is also supported by heart rate sensors and motion tracking with several available experiences.

The platform was revealed at the same time as the announcement of a new organization to bring developers and operators of these kinds of systems together. The MR Sports Association, known as XRS, was launched in November as the world's first organization to support this growing sector.

Along with Sphery, manufacturers such as Valo Motion, FWB and Icaros have become founding members of the XRS. This new operation brings a sports focus to these developments and will be rolled into much of the eSports investment in this genre. The popularity of eSports has continued to grow, spurred on partly by its replacement during the lockdown of live sports fixtures, but also the growth of investment from the entertainment sector.

VEX Solutions launched a brand new eSports platform for its VR system, called "VEX eSports League." The company will be running an international contest with prizes up for grabs. The competition will be operational on both of the company's platforms, "VEX Arena" and "VEX Adventure."

Display technology marries immersion

Regarding the development of brand new immersive environments using the latest display technology, it was recently announced that Realife Tech had signed a three-year partnership with Outernet, which brings together a leading destination automation experience with an immersive media space, currently under development in the heart of London. The "Outernet London" venue will incorporate the world's largest high-resolution wraparound screens, offering a 2,000 capacity live events venue to the city, scheduled for a winter 2021 opening. The immersive screen technology will also be applied to ambitious plans for similar venues in New York, Los Angeles, Berlin and Dubai.

The deployment of new immersive display-based venues has gained momentum, with London already seeing the development of the "MSG Sphere London" venue with plans for "the largest and highest resolution LED screen on Earth." It is scheduled for an opening of the 17,500-seat venue in Stratford, London. This is part of plans by the Madison Square Garden Co. to open several immersive experience sites.

In addition, AECOM announced plans to build the first "MSG Sphere Las Vegas" 17,000-seat venue, scheduled for a 2021 opening.

A crowded future of "immersive experience" venues looks to be building up, and it will be interesting to see how the conventional attraction and entertainment venue industry will compete alongside a growing number of standalone offerings.

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by KWP and its director, Kevin Williams, the leading interactive out-of-home entertainment news service covering the immersive frontier and beyond.)

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About Kevin Williams

Along with advisory positions with other entrants into the market he is founder and publisher of the Stinger Report, “a-must-read” e-zine for those working or investing in the amusement, attractions and entertainment industry. He is a prolific writer and provides regular news columns for main trade publications. He also travels the globe as a keynote speaker, moderator and panelist at numerous industry conferences and events. Author of “The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities,” the only book on this aspect of the market, with the second edition scheduled for a 2023 release.

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