Commentary

Mixed reality headsets’ popularity flags consumer laser tag’s lesson

Consumer game developers working on 'AR Shooters' will soon realize the limitations of a consumer release and pivot towards deploying their game for commercial application.

Image provided by Adobe Stock.

June 12, 2023 by Kevin Williams

A new era is unfolding with the launch of mixed reality headsets that is riding the surging interest in competitive gaming. Leading this movement are Meta Quest Pro and Apple's Vision Pro, on the heels of abortive investments in the consumer augmented reality scene by Magic Leap.

As well as incorporating the inclusion of mixed reality elements onto existing VR headsets, such as the Meta Quest 2 and 3, pass-through tech allows a headset to capture real-world visuals while incorporating virtual elements that interact with the space represented in real-time.

The systems have the ability to play shooting games within a user's home, with targets and opponents represented virtually and superimposed over the real-world visuals, in what some have called "AR Shooters."

A recent video has circulated on social media that demonstrates a first person shooter, with the user wearing a Meta Quest Pro, running around the rooms of their friend's house, shooting realistic assailants represented virtually, but interacting within the space with objects in the rooms — while the player shoots at them with his virtual sidearm.

The video is meant to demonstrate a new game in development for these new MR platforms. However, it also illustrates, by its realism, an alarming similarity with bodycam videos that have appeared on the news channels of police officers defeating recent school shooters in America.

This has raised questions regarding the practicalities of this entertainment experience for consumer usage.

Remember consumer laser tag?

Many readers may not be familiar with a similar situation from the amusement industry's history. Back in the 1980s, the boom in laser tag equipment saw the establishment of this amusement venue platform, with many FEC operators including this new competitive shooting experience within their facilities. As with all popular fashions, developers considered creating a consumer version, riding the wave of popularity.

Toy manufacturer EnterTech launched, in 1986, its Photon — a home-play version of the original 1985 commercial system that ushered in laser tag's popularity. The toy came with Photon Phaser guns, player helmets and targets.

But after an initial successful Christmas sales period, by 1989 the toy range would be discontinued. Another manufacturer, Worlds of Wonder, also launched a line of toy laser guns, and also ended the range ignominiously.

Home systems' limits

As the head of the Laser Tag Association explained, the core reason for the failure of consumer laser tag systems was the fact that commercial FEC-based arenas offered an "otherworld" experience, with wholly themed play spaces including effects that far surpassed the mundane playing of the home system.

The sophistication of the commercial weapons vests and scoring surpassed anything a toy replica could offer. The robust play of the laser tag game and durability of the home toy systems was another factor — constantly breaking, with no significant battery life compared to the commercial, these factors soon saw interest in this toy diminish.

All this was further compounded by alarming bad publicity. The 1987 fatal shooting of a teenager by a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy broke onto the news. The teenager was shot while playing in their backyard with their friends while using the Worlds of Wonder laser tag gun system.

The shooting incident took place as the deputy responded to a report about "a person with a gun." This was just one of a spate of incidents that were reported during this period, adding to the souring of the idea of home laser tag.

History repeats itself

Now jump forward some 40 decades and we are once again confronted with home shooting experiences vying for popularity against the commercial entertainment alternative. Numerous demonstrations over the last few years have attempted to herald these new AR Shooters.

One of the first being promoted was the ambitious claims of Dr. Grordbort's Invaders — an AR shooter that had players wearing the Magic Leap One headset and using a controller to shoot at hordes of robotic invaders.

Co-developed by Magic Leap working with creative team Weta Workshop, the original grandiose claims of the game when previewed in 2015 were greatly tempered when finally released in 2018 — eventually side-lined, and released only as a free beta game app.

Now with 2023, we see the latest attempt to establish AR/MR headset technology in the mainstream. Meta has added the capability of MR pass-through to its Quest 2 and Quest Pro headsets, and this is also planned for the soon-to-be launched Quest 3 system.

Meanwhile, Apple is suggested to be about to present a new MR headset platform. All this, while at the same time, the popularity of the commercial entertainment space has been for multiplayer VR free-roam arenas — dedicated spaces that place the player into a virtually created "otherworld" space, able to shoot hoards of the undead, aliens or combatants.

At present we do not have a dedicated AR equivalent for this space, but it is suggested that many of the consumer game developers working on AR Shooters will soon realize the limitations of a consumer release and pivot towards deploying their game for commercial application.

And then we can expect to see a brand new entertainment experience focused for success on location based entertainment. All this while the original laser tag experience continues to be as strong as ever — and finding new markets internationally.

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by Spider Entertainment 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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