Commentary

Rising escapism market drives mid-scale entertainment

Consumers' desire for escape continues to rise, driving the demand for mid-scale digital out of home entertainment. Entertainment developers already offer a number of attractions.

Image courtesy of KWP.

November 30, 2020 by Kevin Williams

One of the new approaches to location based entertainment is to address a rising demand for escapism with a concept known as "staycation." Several mid-scale attractions have emerged.

The ability to scale down all the benefits of a theme park attraction into a scale that can be deployed in a smaller venue has seen a growth in development of such platforms. The common characteristic is that these platforms have to offer "large-audience-throughput." They have to include at least a digital media, if not a full interactive component, and also be packaged to be flexible to sit in a wide variety of spaces. This variety of space includes shopping malls, zoos, and event leisure centers.

Sally Corp., known for animatronic work, has been investing into the scaling of their interactive attractions for smaller venues. Most recently by launching in PortAventura, Spain, "Sesame Street: Street Mission" — an interactive dark ride, media-based attraction, covering some 14,000 square feet.

Triotech, a developer known for their dark ride theaters, offering motion seats and a shooting gallery theater experience, has broadened into more mid-scale attractions — creating "Interactive Dark Ride," a trackless dark ride platform for deployment in spaces as small as 3,800 square feet with five media scenarios and four player ride cars.

Most recently Triotech announced its partnership with Ubisoft, to produce the "Rabbids Team Battle" attraction — offering a high capacity dueling interactive experience for up to 80 players.

Triotech has also developed its new "The Flyer" theater system — in its smallest configuration, able to offer a single row of 12 motion seats.

BoldMove, one of the latest entrants into the mid-scale attraction scene, launched the "Smash & Reload" concept. The platform is available in three variants, with the smallest being the "XXS" ultra-compact, with six-player ride vehicles traversing the track from screen to screen, while the players blast at the hordes of opponents in the narrative. BoldMove has partnered with Polymorph to create this media-based dark ride attraction and launched the first IP based on the attraction, with "TooMuch," based around the antics of a cartoon mushroom battling a mutated enemy.

AlterFace Projects, a European developer of attractions, has announced the "Action League" attraction. The smaller version of the system sees three large screens for groups of six players to compete against. Frantic rotating motion pods have the players shooting at the screens to score points in tournament dueling sessions that are also great to watch by the waiting audience in the queue line.

Lagotronics Projects, the specialist in custom amusement and attraction projects, is employing the latest GPS (positional) systems and immersive technology with its "GameChanger-XS" platform, designed for smaller location deployment, covering less than 36 square meters. The system is segmented into four areas, each facilitating two players, before rotating to the next section — with interactive projection shooting action. The system is designed for a capacity of 225 players per hour and collects the personal scores of the players to generate repeat play.

Simworx, a U.K. company, has been working on a range of immersive attractions and has started the process of making a range of these attractions more accessible to smaller vendors. One such example is the new "Mini Flying Theater," that can accommodate 20 riders, experiencing the flying thrills from a compact dome screen in 4K. The company has also redeveloped many of its proven attractions, such as the "Immersive Adventurer" (16 riders), and their four-rider "Robocoaster" dark ride solution, to be configurable for smaller sites.

Holovis, another media-based experience designer and developer, recently demonstrated VR and AR concepts for deployment in smaller scale venues, and is looking to promote its own VR attraction for FEC, with the title, "The Descent," developed in partnership with D-BOX, which uses the physicality of a special-effects mine-cage.

MediaMation, known for the development of MX4D theater seating and installations of dome and larger flying theaters, has branched into eSports with its own installation for not just cinema and theaters, but also for consideration in smaller sites with the "GameSphere" platform. Along with this, the operation has created mid-scale applications of its MX4D theater, including both VR and interactive variants. MediaMation has also developed a compact version of its popular "Flying EFX Theater."

Brogent Technologies, another attraction developer, has invested in its own mid-scale attractions for smaller venues, such as versions of the "v-Ride" motion platform with a 12-seat capacity.

Zamperla Plus, the media-attraction division of the manufacturer, has worked to create a library of interactive attractions that also look beyond the traditional theme park and carnival locations. Regarding mid-scale style products from "Z+," one of the first is the VR theater system, called the "VR Coaster" — the turnkey enclosure offers a roller coaster VR experience with motion seating emulating the coaster ride experience for up-to-eight riders with a 15 riders per hour capacity.

The company has also developed its own AR-based experience, with "Bumparcade," taking the tradition bumper car experience and offering a projection mapped environment for the drivers to interact with.

Another veteran developer of attractions, and in particular bumper cars, is I.E.Parks, which has developed its own media-based configuration for their new generation of bumper cars under the "NK Arena Bumper Cars" brand.

These are just a sampling of concepts emerging in mid-scale attractions. The journey continues.

(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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