extra! the newsletter for operators and immersive venue owners -
MACK One and Europa-Park host the 8th AUREA Awards, a prestigious event dedicated to recognizing the best in immersive entertainment. Held in February 2026, this edition brings together innovators, creators, and industry leaders who are shaping the future of digital experiences.
The AUREA Awards have established themselves as a vital platform for celebrating excellence in immersive entertainment. They highlight groundbreaking projects that push the boundaries of how audiences engage with virtual, augmented, and mixed realities. By focusing on real-world applications and transformative concepts, the awards inspire new directions in design, technology, and storytelling.
This year’s theme, “Through the Looking Glass: Where Layered Realities Unfold”, captures the essence of innovations that blend multiple layers of reality. Entries explore how technology can deepen immersion and expand perceptions, creating experiences where virtual and physical worlds merge seamlessly. The theme underscores a commitment to advancing both creative vision and technical achievement within immersive entertainment.
Key highlights include:
You will find detailed insights into this year’s winners and innovations as we unfold the full list from the 8th AUREA Awards.
The AUREA Awards have become an important event in the immersive entertainment industry. They celebrate innovations that transform how audiences engage with digital content. Since they started, these awards have recognized projects that challenge creative and technological limits, setting a standard for innovation in the digital entertainment world.
Michael Mack, founder of MACK One, is instrumental in shaping this vision. His entrepreneurial drive fuels the creation of platforms where groundbreaking ideas are not only talked about but also actively developed and presented. Michael’s leadership guarantees that MACK One acts as a catalyst for collaboration among creators, developers, and investors who share a love for immersive storytelling.
Roland Mack, owner of Europa-Park and Michael’s father, adds to this vision with decades of expertise in theme park innovation. His dedication to entrepreneurship and technological advancement has played a significant role in transforming Europa-Park into more than just a tourist spot; it has evolved into an incubator for fresh entertainment concepts that seamlessly combine physical and digital realms.
Europa-Park serves as a global hub for imaginative visionaries and tech trailblazers. The park’s atmosphere encourages experimentation by offering access to its vast resources and audience pool. This one-of-a-kind environment motivates innovators to try out prototypes, enhance experiences, and obtain valuable feedback instantly.
Key aspects defining Europa-Park’s role include:
The combination of Michael Mack’s innovative mindset through MACK One and Roland Mack’s legacy at Europa-Park creates an ideal environment for progress in immersive entertainment. Their collective impact drives the continuous evolution of experiences that captivate audiences on various sensory levels while paving new paths for storytelling and interaction.
The 8th AUREA Awards featured a distinguished expert jury, chaired by Kathleen Cohen, founder of The Collaboratorium. Her leadership brought together a diverse panel of specialists deeply embedded in immersive entertainment and technology innovation:
This jury evaluated entries based on several key criteria tailored to highlight both creative vision and technical excellence:
Judges examined projects not only for conceptual strength but also for their real-world applicability and ability to inspire meaningful engagement. Emphasis was placed on solutions that push beyond traditional entertainment, offering transformative experiences.
A notable addition this year was the introduction of the “Vox Populi” audience award. This new category empowered visitors attending the event to vote directly for their favorite entry. By incorporating public opinion alongside expert judgment, the AUREA Awards expanded its inclusivity and acknowledged the importance of audience reception in immersive entertainment. This dual approach ensured that winners reflected both professional acclaim and popular appeal, bridging creators with their communities more closely than ever before.
The Experience/Immersion Category at the 8th AUREA Awards recognized Oktoberfest VR as its standout winner. This immersive experience pushes the boundaries of virtual reality by reimagining one of the world’s most iconic cultural festivals in a digital space. You enter a richly detailed, social VR environment that captures the spirit and energy of Munich’s Oktoberfest, enabling users from anywhere in the world to participate without physical presence.
Key features of Oktoberfest VR include:
Winning the Experience/Immersion category confirms Oktoberfest VR’s success in transforming a beloved real-world event into a layered digital experience. Its ability to evoke emotional connection and community engagement exemplifies why it stood out among this year’s immersive experience winners.
MACK One and Europa-Park continue their tradition of celebrating projects like Oktoberfest VR, which blend technology with rich storytelling to redefine how we experience culture through immersive entertainment.
The Innovation category at the 8th AUREA Awards highlighted groundbreaking advancements that push the boundaries of immersive entertainment technology. This year, the title of Innovation & Vox Populi Double Winner was awarded to Wall Town Wonders, a mixed reality game that brilliantly combines innovation with audience appeal.
Wall Town Wonders transforms ordinary living spaces into interactive, miniature towns filled with dynamic characters and stories. Players can engage directly with their environment as the game overlays a digital town onto real-world walls and surfaces, creating an immersive blend of physical and virtual elements. This innovative use of spatial computing and augmented reality elevates user interaction beyond typical VR or AR experiences, making it accessible and engaging in everyday settings.
Key features that earned Wall Town Wonders this prestigious dual recognition include:
This distinction between categories like Experience/Immersion (won by Oktoberfest VR), Interaction (Dreampark and Ballee), Impact (Uncanny Alley), Creative (Bono: Stories of Surrender), and Innovation & Vox Populi emphasizes how the AUREA Awards celebrate diverse aspects of immersive entertainment. Wall Town Wonders stands out not only for its technical achievements but also for capturing the hearts of both experts and audiences alike.
By recognizing Wall Town Wonders as both an innovation leader and a crowd favorite, MACK One and Europa-Park continue to spotlight projects that merge cutting-edge technology with compelling user experiences—hallmarks of this year’s winners at the 8th AUREA Awards.
The Interaction Category at the 8th AUREA Awards recognized projects that redefine how users engage with immersive environments, emphasizing dynamic participation and responsiveness. This year’s winners, Dreampark and Ballee, stand out for their innovative approaches to interaction within virtual spaces.
Dreampark transforms any physical location into an interactive amusement park. It offers users a seamless blend of real-world surroundings with virtual elements, creating an expansive playground accessible through mixed reality devices. The experience invites participants to explore, play, and interact with digital attractions anchored in real settings, pushing the boundaries of spatial computing. Dreampark exemplifies how interaction can extend beyond screens and headsets into tangible environments that respond to user presence and actions.
Ballee leads in dynamic object tracking on Meta Quest, enhancing VR gameplay by enabling precise detection and integration of physical objects into virtual scenarios. This technology allows players to manipulate real-world items naturally within the game, resulting in heightened immersion and tactile feedback. Ballee’s innovation addresses one of the key challenges in VR interaction: bridging the gap between physicality and virtuality to create convincing, responsive experiences.
Both winners highlight distinct facets of interaction in immersive entertainment:
These approaches reflect the diversity celebrated by the AUREA Awards in recognizing interaction category winners who push forward engagement methods across different scales—from entire locations to individual objects.
MACK One and Europa-Park continue their mission through these awards to honor projects like Dreampark and Ballee that not only demonstrate technical prowess but also enrich user agency within immersive experiences. Their work complements other categories such as:
By distinguishing these categories clearly, the 8th AUREA Awards emphasize how advances in immersion, interaction, innovation, impact, and creativity collectively shape the future landscape of digital entertainment.
The Impact Category at the 8th AUREA Awards recognizes immersive projects that push storytelling and audience engagement into new emotional and experiential territories. This year’s winner, Uncanny Alley, a New Day, directed by Stephen Butchko, exemplifies how immersive experiences can redefine theatre through virtual reality.
About Uncanny Alley, a New Day:
Uncanny Alley, a New Day stands apart from other winners such as Oktoberfest VR in the Experience/Immersion Category or Wall Town Wonders in Innovation & Vox Populi by its emphasis on narrative depth combined with cutting-edge technology. This project demonstrates how immersive entertainment can transform traditional media into something both personal and socially impactful.
The recognition of Uncanny Alley as an impact category winner highlights the AUREA Awards’ commitment to honoring projects that do not just innovate technologically but also contribute meaningfully to cultural conversations. It showcases how creative storytelling awards at the event celebrate works that are not only visually impressive but also emotionally and intellectually engaging.
This distinction among categories—Experience/Immersion, Innovation & Vox Populi, Interaction, Impact, and Creative—illustrates the breadth of excellence celebrated at the AUREA Awards 2026. Each winner reflects different dimensions of immersive entertainment’s potential. The Impact category winner emphasizes emotional resonance and narrative innovation as crucial components of next-generation digital experiences.
MACK One and Europa-Park continue to foster this diversity by hosting the 8th Aurea Awards to recognize the best in immersive entertainment—from groundbreaking VR games recognized in innovation awards to deeply moving theatrical experiences like Uncanny Alley. This platform ensures that creators pushing boundaries in both technology and storytelling receive deserved acclaim among their peers and audiences alike.
The Creative Category at the 8th AUREA Awards celebrates exceptional storytelling and artistic vision in immersive entertainment. This year’s winner, Bono: Stories of Surrender, sets a new benchmark for narrative-driven experiences. The project is an immersive cinematic adaptation of Bono’s memoir, offering audiences an intimate journey through the life and work of the iconic U2 frontman.
Key aspects of Bono: Stories of Surrender include:
Distinct from other categories such as the Experience/Immersion Category (won by Oktoberfest VR), which focuses on transforming real-world places into social digital spaces, or the Innovation & Vox Populi Double Winner (Wall Town Wonders), which emphasizes technological novelty and audience engagement, the Creative Category hones in on narrative innovation. It highlights projects where storytelling itself is the driving force behind immersion.
This award complements recognition given to winners in categories like Interaction (Dreampark and Ballee) and Impact (Uncanny Alley, a New Day), underscoring the diversity of excellence across different facets of immersive entertainment celebrated by MACK One and Europa-Park at the 8th AUREA Awards.
The distinction between these categories ensures a broad spectrum of achievements receive attention—from groundbreaking VR game mechanics to storytelling mastery—reflecting the multifaceted nature of immersive experiences today.
MACK One and Europa-Park hosted the 8th Aurea Awards to recognize the best in immersive entertainment, presenting a showcase of virtual reality experiences, mixed reality games, and groundbreaking technologies that are shaping the future of digital engagement.
The technology behind “Ballee” demonstrated advanced dynamic object tracking capabilities on Meta Quest devices. This innovation enables seamless interaction between the physical environment and virtual elements, allowing users to manipulate digital objects with unprecedented precision. Such tracking elevates immersion by bridging the gap between real-world movements and their virtual counterparts.
“Uncanny Alley, a New Day” exemplified the expansion of live VR theatre, merging traditional performance arts with immersive technology. This genre pushes boundaries by enabling audiences to experience theatrical storytelling in a fully enveloping virtual space, where actors’ presence and audience interaction coalesce in real time.
Projects like “Bono: Stories of Surrender” set new standards for narrative depth within immersive cinematic adaptations. Utilizing spatial audio, 360-degree visuals, and interactive storytelling mechanics, these adaptations offer an enriched emotional connection that transcends conventional film formats.
AI emerged as a pivotal tool across multiple facets of creative design and storytelling:
The integration of these technologies reflects a trend toward increasingly layered realities where digital and physical worlds blend seamlessly. The event’s demonstrations confirmed that immersive entertainment is evolving beyond passive consumption into active participation powered by cutting-edge hardware and intelligent software solutions.
The panels and keynotes at the 8th AUREA Awards provided deep dives into how technology is reshaping the entertainment landscape. Industry leaders shared practical insights and forward-thinking perspectives on AI, immersive audio, travel experiences, and more.
Hilmar Koch from Autodesk emphasized AI as a creative enabler rather than a threat. His discussion centered on:
Koch underscored that embracing AI-driven creativity leads to more efficient production pipelines while expanding artistic possibilities.
Representatives from Holoride illustrated how immersive entertainment transforms automotive travel:
Holoride’s approach redefines the traditional in-car entertainment model, turning commute time into interactive adventure zones.
Dolby showcased advancements pushing boundaries of spatial audio:
These innovations boost immersion by making audio an active storytelling element rather than background noise.
Lufthansa representatives discussed technology integration aimed at enhancing air travel:
Their strategy highlights how airlines can leverage entertainment technology beyond mere distraction — creating meaningful connections throughout the journey.
Each panel contributed unique expertise demonstrating how digital innovation intersects with entertainment, design, and travel industries. The fusion of these insights paints a vibrant picture of what immersive experiences will look like in the near future.
A standout moment during the 8th AUREA Awards was the live recording of The World Beyond podcast. Hosted by Michael Mack, this session featured visionary designer and filmmaker Keiichi Matsuda. Their conversation offered a rare glimpse into the cutting edge of immersive entertainment and technological innovation.
“The future of entertainment lies at the intersection of these technologies,” Matsuda stated. “When AR, AI, and immersive storytelling come together, they unlock experiences that are not only interactive but deeply personal and transformative.”
Listeners gained valuable insights on how these trends will influence the design of next-generation experiences across gaming, theatre, education, and beyond. The session also underscored the importance of collaboration between technologists and creatives to realize this vision.
This live recording captured an authentic dialogue about innovation’s role in shaping entertainment’s future — a fitting highlight for an event dedicated to layered realities unfolding before our eyes.
The 8th AUREA Awards, hosted by MACK One and Europa-Park, is an important event where entrepreneurs, immersive tech developers, and creative individuals come together. This event is not just a celebration but also a place where innovative ideas can be turned into reality through collaboration.
At the AUREA Awards, developers and creators have the opportunity to showcase their prototypes and test them in a real-world setting. The festival atmosphere at Europa-Park allows for quick testing, feedback, and improvement of these ideas. This means that instead of just talking about concepts, they are actually being put to the test and evaluated by potential users.
The AUREA Awards focuses on projects that go beyond being just ideas. It prioritizes immersive experiences that have an emotional and intellectual impact on audiences. MACK One and Europa-Park believe in supporting innovations that actively involve users, creating memorable interactions instead of passive consumption.
By consistently organizing the AUREA Awards, MACK One and Europa-Park show their dedication to pushing boundaries in digital entertainment. Their partnership fosters an environment where continuous technological advancement meets creative storytelling with commercial viability.
The AUREA Awards brings together various stakeholders such as VR designers, storytellers, technologists, and business leaders. This diverse mix of participants sparks new collaborations and synergies. Often, these partnerships result in hybrid solutions that combine multiple disciplines, enriching the world of immersive experiences.
One of the key criteria for the AUREA Awards is not just originality but also practical application. The winning projects demonstrate potential for integration into everyday life or entertainment venues. This ensures that the innovations recognized at the awards ceremony have lasting value and impact beyond just being awarded.
The AUREA Awards are more than just an award ceremony; they serve as a catalyst for innovation in immersive entertainment. By bringing together visionaries under one roof at Europa-Park, MACK One and Europa-Park are helping to accelerate the cycle of innovation in this industry. Through this collaboration, they continue to shape the future of how people experience digital realities.
The 8th AUREA Awards hosted by MACK One and Europa-Park has set a high standard for recognizing excellence in immersive entertainment. The theme, “Through the Looking Glass: Where Layered Realities Unfold,” not only highlighted current innovations but also pointed toward evolving trends that will define future immersive experiences.
Expect continued breakthroughs in virtual, augmented, and mixed reality to take center stage at upcoming ceremonies. Technologies that blend physical and digital worlds will become more sophisticated, pushing the boundaries of immersion and interactivity. These advances will likely explore new ways to engage senses and emotions, creating deeper connections between audiences and content.
The influence of these awards extends beyond recognition; they act as a catalyst for global trends shaping tomorrow’s immersive entertainment landscape. Developers and creators inspired by past winners such as Oktoberfest VR and Wall Town Wonders will push creative limits further. The integration of AI, live VR theatre, and dynamic object tracking are just glimpses of what the future holds.
MACK One and Europa-Park continue their role as visionary hosts by creating a dynamic platform where innovation meets entrepreneurship. Their commitment ensures the AUREA Awards remain at the forefront of digital innovation in immersive entertainment.
Anticipate future editions to be vibrant showcases of creativity where emerging technologies set new standards. This ongoing evolution keeps you connected to the pulse of an industry that is rapidly transforming how we perceive reality and interact with digital worlds.
The 8th AUREA Awards, hosted by MACK One and Europa-Park in February 2026, recognize excellence in immersive entertainment, celebrating innovations that shape reality and immersion.
The theme for the 8th AUREA Awards is “Through the Looking Glass: Where Layered Realities Unfold,” focusing on cutting-edge innovations that transform immersive experiences and layered realities.
Michael Mack, founder of MACK One, and Roland Mack, owner of Europa-Park, are pivotal in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within the immersive entertainment industry, with Europa-Park serving as an international hub for creative visionaries.
An expert jury chaired by Kathleen Cohen includes notable members like Thomas Wagner, Emily Olman, Christina Lee Storm, and Julian Reyes. They evaluate entries based on criteria encompassing immersive experience quality and technological innovation. Additionally, the “Vox Populi” audience award allows visitors to participate in selecting winners.
Notable winners include “Oktoberfest VR” for Experience/Immersion Category; “Wall Town Wonders,” which won both Innovation & Vox Populi awards; Interaction Category winners “Dreampark” and “Ballee”; and “Uncanny Alley, a New Day,” directed by Stephen Butchko, which won in the Impact Category.
The AUREA Awards hold significance as a prestigious platform recognizing excellence and innovation in immersive entertainment. They highlight pioneering works that push boundaries in digital entertainment, fostering creativity and technological advancement globally.
