Commentary

Social entertainment to make 2023 a year to remember

Social entertainment joins mid-scale resort projects and emerging technology to make 2023 a pivotal year for the amusements and entertainment industry.

Image provided by Kindred Concepts.

February 27, 2023 by Kevin Williams

The emergence of new "social entertainment" venues is forcing many traditionalists in this space to take notice.

Many operations and investment groups are embracing this re-emergence of the eat, drink, play model, many of which originate in the U.K. before moving to the U.S.

London takes the lead

One of the most recent openings in London was Clay's — the second venue of this new chain, offering a bar, food and clay pigeon shooting environment. Private booths are hired by groups of players, offering a social entertainment mix of guns, cocktails and shared platters. As common with most of these kinds of environments, VIP booths are available, closed off from the main area, but most of the space is open plan with shared access to bars.

The automated food and drink ordering off touchscreen, along with the simplified shooting game using full size (and weight) shotguns, aim to create a relaxed atmosphere for the after-work crowds.

Another new entrant in this area is Fairgame — hoping to recreate the atmosphere of the carnival, but with a whole new vibe. In the first of this new chain, guests enter an area that has been themed to offer a fun appeal, with Midway skill games to accommodate large groups of players.

The area is supported by extensive bar service, and seating to try the selection of food stalls on call, along with private booth spaces for larger groups. This is a modern interpretation of the carnival hall, using swipe card payment and score collection.

The venue uses fairground theming in its private hire seating, which is designed to look like Waltzer cars.

Still another of the entertainment offerings within the Docklands area of London is Electric Shuffle — one of three locations in the U.K., and the chain has recently started its rollout in the U.S. in Dallas and Atlanta.

Migration across the pond

Fundamentally, the chain offers the bar, food and entertainment mix based around shuffleboard. But as with all these brands, it is not just the games offered, but the presentation and operation that have singled out competitive socializing as the next-generation of "eatertainment."

Along with frictionless payment and ordering, the game touchscreen terminals that support the playing stations collect scores. It offers game variations and collected player images to make the experience a truly social one. It is this aspect that is often missed by jaded amusement trade eyes to the explosion in interest in these new brands that contain already proven amusement such as shooting galleries, shuffleboard or Midway games.

The attractiveness of these chains as they roll out is best illustrated by the $150 million investment made by BlackRock group in the Puttshack chain towards supporting its plans for 30 sites to open in the coming years, building on its current six venues in the U.K. and the U.S.

Momentum continues

Kindred Concepts, which pioneered the socializing approach with its Flightclub, Bounce and All Star Lanes developments, recently launched its latest endeavour in this genre with F1 Arcade in London, comprising some 60 motion-simulators developed by Vesaro and running the rFactor 2 racing game experience developed by Motorsport Games in partnership with the Formula 1 motorsport owners.

The race simulations have four levels of difficulty for customers to select in social competition engendered within the space. Billed as "the world's first official premium F1 experiential venue," the focus is obviously on the food and cocktails, with even a VIP room for special party hire — the requisites of any competitive socializing establishment.

Battersea Power Station, a £9 billion ($10.75 billion) development in a historic London power station, reopened in October 2022, having been transformed into a hotel, retail, hospitality and entertainment location. The experience includes an immersive presentation area using projection mapped rooms in the latest immersive "artainment" space in London.

The designs of the experience have also incorporated QR codes which activate information about the environment as well as AR technology to point out landmarks during the panoramic section.

Area 15 development continues

Stateside, it was recently reported that Area15 in Las Vegas will see a 20-acre expansion and one of the new tenants will be Universal, which will develop a year-round horror-themed attraction. The concept has been tentatively named Universal Horror, occupying a purpose-built, 111,000-square-foot structure and comprising multiple zones based around movie IP.

This marks the expansion of the entertainment district surrounding the 200,000-square-foot Area 15 immersive entertainment space – comprising the 52,000-square-foot Meow Wolf Omega Mart, along with the surrounding Illuminarium and Army of the Dead (Netflix) venues occupying the space.

This follows Universal's soft opening of the California Super Nintendo World gate last month, along with plans to develop a standalone resort with hotels and attractions in Dallas featuring IP from its movie properties such as "Minions" and "Shrek."

Along with the rollout of a new style of theme park and attraction, seeing interactive AR-based attractions, interactive guest interaction with the environment and extensive use of smart apps and guest wristbands, it was also expected that the importance of the Mario IP would be exploding on the scene with the launch of a new movie.

Movies on the move

"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" will launch in theaters in April and, along with a star-studded cast, has been developed by Universal Pictures to build on the successful formula seen with the latest two smash hit "Sonic the Hedgehog" movies.

This move in themed entertainment comes so younger generations' recognition of popular characters could see Disney's Mickey Mouse pushed from the top slot.

At the same time, investment in next-generation attractions by Nintendo and Universal could also play a part in knocking Walt Disney from that top slot as the corporation suffers growing internal difficulties, instability and suggestions of major holes in its liquidity — just as it plans major celebrations for its 100-year anniversary.

This comes just as it was reported that the Japanese videogame and IP powerhouse Nintendo revealed developments in the consumer games scene.

Once again, the name of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was invoked, with news in January that the fund had increased its stake in the video game and hardware developer Nintendo. This sees the shares in this operation owned by the fund worth $2.9 billion. The fund has major holdings across the video game scene, along with controlling stakes in developers such as SNK, Koei Tecmo and Capcom.

Nintendo has also announced its intention to increase development plans in the out-of-home entertainment scene, following its partnership with Universal Studios (Super Nintendo World), along with its investment in console, portable and IP usage through entertainment such as with the soon-to-be-released Universal Pictures' "Super Mario Bros. Movie" as Nintendo plans its own entertainment venue chain.

Social entertainment, mid-scale amusement resort projects and new investment in innovative technology are set to create the next generation of attractions and entertainment — shaping 2023 as a pivotal year for several aspects of the industry.

(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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