350+ free-roam venues with happy operators!
350+ free-roam venues with happy operators!
It’s hard to tell what the One Big Thing will be this week, as companies like to surprise us during IAAPA. There are new VR arcade games from old-school arcade manufacturers like Sega and Unis. There’s an update on last year’s smash hit Godzilla from Raw Thrills. LAI might unveil its new ruggedized headset from DPVR. Zero Latency makes its debut on the show floor with a turnkey arena designed for FECs. There’s a new wizard game from Hero Zone. New AI bots in Limitless VR from Creative Works, and more.
There are events off the floor all week, too. Rabbit Hole VR’s “VR Showcase 2024” at Andretti’s will feature the new HTC Vision Focus headset. There will be free-roam VR and hands-on demos, and door prizes include a Mavrik-Pro blaster from Striker, a TactSuit X40 haptic vest from bHaptics, and an HTC Vive headset! If you need a code for a free ticket, just reply to this email and let me know.
A central-florida collaboration between M3D and 302 Interactive is showcasing innovations in markerless motion capture and VR experiences at their “Immersive Experiences & Innovation Demo Event” held about a 15-minute drive from the convention center.
I’m hosting a Best of IAAPA VR Floor Tour on Wednesday at 1PM. We will meet at the LAI Games booth (#200) at the front of the trade show. You can reserve as slot at this link https://calendly.com/bobcooney-vr/iaapa-orlando-vr-tour
If you’d like to see the newest products and the latest updates from the show, visit the new online version of the IAAPA VR Buyer’s Guide. We’ve ditched the PDF and gone to a web-based mobile-friendly version you can use on your phone on the show floor.
Check out this quick video with all the highlights.
Immersive entertainment in LBE is one of the hottest topics at the show this year. Studios continue to push into the market. Netflix will present on the Transforming IP into Tangible Magic: The Art of Immersive Attractions panel, hopefully offering a glimpse into what might be inside their forthcoming Netflix Houses next year. I’m meeting with several other big IP holders who have contacted me and expressed interest in location-based VR opportunities. I’m excited to see if we can bring some more high-profile content to the market in 2025 and beyond.
I’m sure I’ll be talking about that during my fireside chat with Kevin Williams, who invited me to join him onstage on Monday at 4 PM to discuss the world of immersive entertainment. It’s called:
It’s in room S310EFGH. Wow, that’s four rooms; they must expect a big crowd.
You can see the details here, or add it to your show agenda here.
Kevin and I are the heavyweights of location-based immersive entertainment. Unlike the Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul spectacle on Netflix Friday night, this one won’t be a snoozefest.
By now you’ve heard of the “experience economy,” first referenced by Joe Pine and James Gilmore in their Harvard Business Review article, and later expanded in their best-selling book. The experience economy began 20 years ago, when people starting favoring experiences over possessions. Millennials are the poster children of the experience economy, and Instagram is their calling card, where they share with their friends and the world everything from travel photos to food porn.
Businesses have been chasing the experience economy goldmine for a decade now. Big brands have gotten involved now too. There’s an escalation in the war to provide experiences that’s reached…Click to Read More
If you see me around the show, say hi, snap an ussie, and make sure to let me know if you’ve seen anything you really like. It’s a massive show and it’s hard to find everything.
