Offline VR experience hall outlet again! Immersive drag racing gunfight, why do young people get on the head?

Zhi DongXi (public number: zhidxcom)

Author | Xu Shan

Edit | Yunpeng

"This looks so cool!" I want to play! ”

After pestering his mother for a long time, a child finally sat on a VR space chair and experienced the happiness of "heaven". This scene is not a scene in a science fiction movie, but a microcosm of the future scene of some tourists preemptively experiencing the "meta-universe".

▲VR space capsule

On weekends or holidays, we can often see a lot of VR game areas lined up in front of the long line, young people and children want to experience the fun of VR.

However, for some parents and seniors, they think that this type of VR game is slightly more expensive and the experience is not good. "I kind of want to throw up." A parent experienced a few minutes later walking out of the VR capsule in a daze.

▲Children are experiencing VR games

Like these space chairs, motorcycles, chariots and other "big guys", often appear in playgrounds, large shopping malls, Internet cafes and other venues, is the most accessible VR equipment for ordinary people, but also the most common VR amusement equipment in offline VR experience halls.

Compared with the video game city loved by the post-80s and post-90s, the offline VR experience hall may be becoming the "main force" of the game entertainment center of the post-00s and post-10s.

▲VR game area

The offline VR experience hall originated from the VR industry boom in 2015 and was once considered to be the fastest way for the VR industry to achieve commercialization and monetization. According to the offline VR market research report released by market analysis agency Greenlight Insights, the number of offline VR experience halls worldwide will grow to more than 24,500 in 2023.

What are the types of offline VR experience halls? How does it feel to play? What are the vendors behind it? After so many years of fire, what is the offline VR experience like? After personally experiencing the offline VR experience hall and in-depth communication with the relevant person in charge, we found that the manufacturers of the offline VR experience hall are rapidly expanding their "business territory".

First, to meet the outbreak period again, offline VR experience hall to spend the "cold winter"

What exactly is the offline VR experience playing?

After visiting a number of VR experience stores, we found that the offline VR experience hall can be divided into three types according to the size of the venue: Nakajima, large-space integrated experience store and large-scale VR entertainment theme park.

Nakajima often has only two or three devices, such as small VR game devices such as egg chairs or roller coasters. Nakajima's VR game devices often last from 10 minutes to 15 minutes at a time, and the experience price ranges from 40 yuan to 60 yuan.

▲ Nakajima type VR game area

The price of large-scale space integrated experience stores will be slightly higher, often around 150 yuan to 200 yuan, and the duration is also 10 minutes to 30 minutes. However, such offline VR experience halls not only include VR experience venues, but also often provide some board game venues.

The last type of large-scale VR entertainment theme parks often refer to VR theme parks built with various VR equipment. Industry sources revealed that at present, there is no large-scale VR entertainment theme park that has been fully landed in China, and many places such as Nanjing and Changsha are promoting related projects.

In foreign countries, The Void, an American offline VR entertainment company, once built a virtual reality entertainment center in 2015.

The Void's virtual entertainment center scene will be built according to the terrain of the virtual world, and add jets, sprinklers and other special effects, so that people can feel the fun of the virtual world through the combination of virtual reality scenes and actual theme parks.

▲The Void

However, due to the impact of the epidemic, The Void will stop operating in 2020 and all major venues will be closed. Recently, The Void updated its official website and announced that they will return with better VR technology.

In fact, not only The Void, but also many offline VR experience halls have also worked hard to survive the "cold winter" of the industry with the changes in the market.

Judging from the existing materials, most of the offline VR experience halls originated from the DOMESTIC VR industry boom around 2015. At that time, some people in the industry predicted that the offline VR experience hall would become the main form of the future entertainment industry like An Internet café and a game hall.

However, the actual situation is that the offline VR experience hall of that year did not quickly penetrate into major shopping malls and replace scenes such as Internet cafes and game halls as most people imagined at that time, but was in a tepid state.

According to the "White Paper on the Status Quo of China's VR Experience Stores" by the China VR Experience Store Alliance, as of November 2016, there were more than 3,000 VR experience stores nationwide, but less than 30% of them were profitable that year.

Even Meta closed 200 Oculus Rift offline experience stores in 2017, cutting nearly 40% of the 500 experience stores opened in the United States.

▲Oculus Rift offline experience store

Some experts believe that because the VR experience is not a high-frequency entertainment form, the user repurchase rate is low, and the offline VR experience is more like a "hammer transaction", which is difficult to expand the market scale.

However, some people in the industry hold different views. "The return rate and profitability of good offline VR experience hall products are higher than those of general offline experience products as a whole." Guo Cheng, founder and president of STEPVR, found from long-term industry observation that the operation of the offline VR experience hall depends on the selection, location and selection of the store, and he believes that data analysis alone is more one-sided.

After the "cooling" moment of the industry, more and more offline VR experience halls have begun to sink their hearts to focus on a certain field. With the breakthrough of many VR technology bottlenecks, offline VR experience halls have gradually recovered in recent years.

Companies such as Sandbox VR and The Void that were once shut down have also announced their own plans to return to the "metaverse" boom.

According to the data, in 2017, the domestic offline VR experience hall market size reached 1.04 billion yuan, and from 2018, the market showed a stable growth state, with a growth rate of more than 30%, exceeding 4 billion yuan in 2020.

From this point of view, with the breakthrough of technical bottlenecks, offline VR experience halls are ushering in a stage of rapid development, and more people are also exposed to the VR world for the first time.

As for what the VR world will look like for the first time, it may depend on how much you are willing to pay for this VR experience. If within 100 yuan, you may be wearing a VR headset and sitting in a "chariot" to experience the joy of a roller coaster. If you're willing to spend a little more money, you can also go to the end of the world and become a "savior" to fulfill your heroic dreams.

Second, the personal test of Beijing high-score VR experience hall, large space VR experience break through the space limit

According to the ranking of public reviews, I found the two major offline VR experience halls on the Beijing VR praise list, Immersive World and Future Battlefield, and conducted a field investigation.

▲Beijing Chaoyang District Future Battlefield Changying Store

"It's so real!" I had just put on my device when I heard a tourist in my company say.

Unlike consumer-grade VR headsets, people who participate in a game in an offline VR experience hall require at least two devices: a VR headset and a "backpack." Among them, the "backpack" is equivalent to a computer host, which mainly assumes the role of computing power. Sometimes, depending on the type of game chosen, manufacturers will also have game peripherals such as racing cars and guns.

▲The "peripherals" of large space VR games

The first offline VR game I played was Mutant Invasion annihilation on the battlefield of the future. After I put on the VR headset, the game scene with crows flying in the sky, the dilapidated wooden houses around me, and the slightly terrifying BGM made it easy for me to feel the atmosphere of the end of the world.

"Hurry up! Run! "During the game, your teammates next to you will always remind you to run and dodge attacks. At the same time, since everyone is in the same game scene, you can see in real time where your teammates are.

▲1,000 square meters of VR game area

But you can clearly feel the shortcomings of this type of shooting type of game, the clarity of the game screen needs to be improved, the interaction method is relatively single, compared to the mobile or computer game, the fun of offline VR games may be more focused on the word "experience".

In the course of the field investigation, I also visited the offline VR experience hall that immersed the world.

Different from the future battlefield of more than 1,000 square meters of venues, the immersive world storefront is set in the interior of the mall, the VR game area area is about 50 square meters, and the more sci-fi store design has attracted many people to stop and watch.

▲ Immersive vr game area

Wang Ming and his friends just enjoyed the fun of the VR game "Paladin 4" in the immersive world. "I think it's good to feel immersed in the virtual world. Sometimes you can feel the wind blowing on your face and the vibration under your feet. Wang Ming said.

When asked how he felt about carrying a "backpack," he said, "It's okay, it doesn't feel too much, it's similar to a school bag at school." But one of the girls in the industry felt that the "backpack" was a bit heavy, "the second half could not run." ”

▲ Immersive world VR game scene

Different people may have different views and feelings about VR games. The clerks of the offline VR experience hall often witness the process of most people experiencing VR for the first time, because some VR game scenes are more realistic, and the horror atmosphere is full, which often scares tourists. "Don't be afraid, it's all fake." During the game, we can often hear the clerks comforting customers in this way.

When communicating with a number of store staff, they all mentioned that the current offline VR experience hall has a large flow of people, "There can be about 60-70 people on weekends." ”

According to third-party data, the number of VR experience-related searches in September 2021 increased by 97.5% compared with the same period in 2020. The total number of VR experience hall merchants nationwide increased by 93.2% compared with the same period in 2019. For many consumers who are reluctant to buy thousands of VR headsets, but want to experience the fun of VR, the offline VR experience hall is one of the best ways for them to contact the VR world.

Many people have glimpsed business opportunities from the hot traffic and tried to get a piece of the pie. Mr. Liu is preparing to open an offline VR experience hall, but after playing a few games, he feels that the types of games in the offline VR experience hall are fewer, "Most of them are shooting games, the gameplay is relatively single, and some people feel too dizzy." I have a friend who couldn't stand playing for a while. ”

At the same time, he mentioned that he had this idea because he had seen the traffic of the offline VR experience hall during the Spring Festival before, and he contacted the "meta-universe" of the recent fire, which he thought was a good opportunity. "But we'll have to see again." He finally said.

Second, the hardware manufacturers hidden behind VR games, HTC, Dapeng VR muffled to make money

Many people may have a question in their hearts like me: "What manufacturers are behind these offline VR experience halls?" Do they all develop their own equipment? "After some investigation, we found many familiar VR hardware players from these offline VR experience halls.

1. HTC: Join hands with a number of offline experience stores to become the world's largest hardware provider

In the VR game arena in the immersive world, as soon as we entered, we could see HTC's VR headset and gamepad and other devices.

▲HTC's VR handle

According to the survey, Immersive World is a partner of HTC VIVE ISV. All stores in Immersive World use the HTC VIVE Pro Headset, HTC, and Intel's VIVE Wireless Upgrade Kit.

According to Wang Congqing, president of HTC China, HTC has always attached great importance to the B-side market, and since about three years ago, more than 70% of China's sales have been oriented to the B2B industry. "Enterprise users need more durable, more compatible devices."

Not only that, HTC is also constantly increasing the size of mobile terminal equipment. Taiwanese media Digitimes broke the news that HTC's VR department HTC VIVE is developing a smartphone focusing on VR/AR functions.

2, Dapeng VR: rooted in the industry for 8 years, the layout of B-end, C-end dual track

When visiting a number of VR experience halls, The Big Tom VR headset frequently appears in many offline VR experience halls, and the company that has been rooted in the VR industry for nearly 8 years has quietly revealed its business corner.

Dapeng VR is a VR brand of Shanghai Lexiang Technology Co., Ltd., which was established in April 2015 as a VR technology company integrating software and hardware.

According to data from international research agency Counterpoint, Dapeng VR ranked top 5 in the world in terms of overseas shipments in Q4 2020. Just in November 2021, Dapeng VR received the latest round of tens of millions of dollars in financing. Now, Dapeng VR has extended its business tentacles to more than 40 countries and regions. Among them, in Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and other countries, the business of Dapeng VR accounts for up to 30%.

Dapeng's product line is distributed on both the B-side and the C-end, of which the P-series is mainly facing the B-end, the E-series is facing the C-end consumers, and the main functions include consumer-level scenes such as theaters and games.

▲Big Tom E3 headset

Chen Chaoyang, CEO of Dapeng VR, once said in an interview with the media: "In recent years, Dapeng has always been a situation of C-end and B-end doubles. Because of the maturity of the market, there are more biases towards the B-side, which is not only inspired by the development of virtual people and digital people in the industry, but also about the need for friends to do something differentiated and valuable. ”

He mentioned that unlike the product spelling parameters of the C-end, the product requirements for the B-end provide customers with a higher cost performance ratio as much as possible while providing the same performance.

The available information shows that as early as 2017, the E3 egg chair system of Leke VR was adapted to the E3 headset of Dapeng and sold jointly, and the price of the two Dapeng E3 all-in-one VR headset and E3 egg chair system was 8800 yuan. In addition to Luck VR, domestic VR entertainment manufacturers such as Phantom Starry Sky will also use the Dapeng E3 all-in-one VR headset on some devices.

3. STEPVR: Gradually develop hardware products to build a complete ecological experience

Unlike the previous two offline VR experience halls that cooperate with hardware manufacturers in VR equipment, STEPVR has gradually begun to develop its own VR headset, tailoring its own VR headset according to its own views on vr experience.

▲The second generation of the future battlefield headset

Different from other offline VR experience halls, STEPVR is mainly engaged in offline VR large space comprehensive experience halls, and the VR game experience area can generally reach more than 1,000 square meters.

STEPVR is the brand of Beijing Guocheng Wantong Information Technology, with VR offline large space product brand "Future Battlefield". According to the relevant person in charge, at present, STEPVR can also support VR game battles in different places, and people in different regions can experience the fun of offline VR entertainment at the same time.

"The current hit games all have elements like online, skill matchups, and PVP battles, and the games we offer consumers are also in this genre." Guo Cheng, founder and president of STEPVR, said. He believes that in terms of content ecology, it is necessary to give priority to consumers with the most interesting and popular game types.

In terms of hardware, STEPVR has completed nearly 4 generations of product iterations, and most of the venues are currently using the second generation of products, that is, the VR headset jointly developed by STEPVR and Hewlett-Packard, and the "backpack" developed by STEPVR itself. With the acceleration of the pace of self-development, stepVR's third-generation self-developed VR headset and lightweight vest have entered the debugging stage, and the fourth-generation product is also in the process of close research and development.

Judging from the actions of these manufacturers, many VR hardware companies are laying out two tracks at the B-end and C-end, and are working with offline VR content companies to open up the VR content ecology.

Conclusion: Offline VR experience hall "blossoms everywhere"

After visiting and investigating a number of offline VR experience halls, we found that offline VR experience halls are expanding rapidly. Not only do major manufacturers come up with various tricks to attract customers to join, but many hardware manufacturers are also providing customers with better cost-effective services.

However, there are also certain shortcomings in the offline VR experience hall, and the shortcomings such as higher prices, single game experience and content ecological barriers are also intuitively presented in front of consumers.

Offline VR experience halls are becoming the most direct and fast way for more and more consumers to enter the VR world. With the recent breakthrough of VR technology, the offline VR experience hall may usher in a new outbreak stage.