The once popular drama "Squid Game" has really become a game this time, and it is still the kind that can be played in person.
At the end of September, immersive game social company Sandbox VR cooperated with the world-renowned streaming Netflix to move "Squid Game" into the VR experience store, using offline venue + VR to reproduce the "battle royale" plot under the packaging of games such as 123 wooden men and sugar cakes, and players can team up to experience the thrilling scenes in the series.
According to the reservation page, the single ticket for this experience costs $50-60, and each session requires at least 2 players to team up.
Squid Game received 265 million views when it launched, but the eponymous VR experience created by Sandbox VR has not yet opened the market: more than 40 stores around the world still have enough tickets left, and the joint video has only 460,000 views on YouTube. Previously, other Sandbox VR products needed to queue up for reservations 90 days in advance, which was hard to find.
Compared with the past, the IP of "Squid Game" is a bit outdated, and Sandbox VR's main LBVR (location-based virtual reality) model has not yet completely exploded the market. For LBVR social, IP is not the only blockbuster password.
Strike iron without taking advantage of the heat Big IP derivatives also have to be cool
After two years, "Squid Game" was moved into the Sandbox VR experience store, quickly covering the company's more than 40 stores around the world in California, London, Singapore, Toronto, Hong Kong, Shanghai, etc., with a single price of $50 to $60.
These experience stores are packed with high technology: motion tracking technology captures movement throughout the player's body, which, combined with high-quality haptic systems, allows VR players to play and socialize immersively.
In the Sandbox VR version of "Squid Game", at least 2 players can team up, put on equipment provided by the experience shop, participate in the challenges of the episode and compete against each other. After the game is over, players can also replay the game recap.
Sandbox VR recreates classic Squid Game scenes
With the well-known IP of "Squid Game", coupled with the exciting links that have been designed in the series itself, Sandbox VR's new product release looks like a hit. However, the appointment situation does not seem to be ideal.
On YouTube, the official video of "Squid Game" Sandbox VR had a maximum of only 460,000 views, and there were plenty of tickets available in multiple stores. Previously, other new products of Sandbox VR had a hot scene that required "90 days in advance".
Last year, for example, Sandbox VR launched the Deadwood Valley VR game, earning $23 million a year in ticket revenue and attracting an average of 42 players per store per day. This single achievement also made the LBVR company quickly out of the circle and become a leader in the VR game social track.
In terms of gameplay alone, "Squid Game" and "Corpse Forest Blood Valley" are both survival adventure games that focus on social scenes. Also with gameplay and hardware support, "Squid Game" also has strong IP attributes in comparison.
You know, the show quickly swept the world as soon as it was broadcast, gaining 265 million views on the network, making it one of the most watched episodes Netflix has ever seen. Sandbox VR, which brings the eponymous series into an offline experience, should be more attractive, but the actual sales situation is not optimistic.
This also reflects a market law: chase IP to manufacture derivatives early, otherwise even large IPs will cool over time. After all, "Squid Game" is already a "myth" 2 years ago.
Netflix understands this truth, "Squid Game" was a hit after it was broadcast that year, Netflix quickly launched the reality show "Squid Game: The Challenge", which exploded the traffic market for the second time.
There are also many vloggers and peripheral manufacturers who strike while the iron is hot. YouTuber MrBeast attracted 200 million netizens to watch because of his restoration of "Squid Game", and the number of fans rose. You must also remember how popular the sugar cake box with a small needle sold on Taobao after the episode aired that year.
Compared with such a commercial sense, Sandbox VR is a little sluggish, and then chasing "Squid Game", the effect can only be attributed to the long tail cycle of Netflix's explosive effect.
Technology alone will not work The LBVR market is yet to be developed
In addition to IP obsolescence, the "location-based virtual reality" (LBVR) (LBVR) on which Sandbox VR's business model relies is not yet completely popular and is still in the exploration period of the business model.
Slightly different from the just-released Meta Quest3 consumer VR headset, Sandbox VR, an LBVR that requires users to personally go to a specific place to participate in the experience, is also called large-space VR in China.
According to Mordor Intelligence research, the LBVR market size is expected to grow from $2.11 billion in 2023 to $8.73 billion in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 32.80%. Currently, the LBVR market is still in its infancy.
VBVR site
LBVR is highly dependent on venues, because in addition to VR technology, there is also motion capture technology, which is a technical blessing that home VR devices on the market do not have. As a result, LBVR provides a more immersive, realistic experience, and the experience of teaming up in the venue makes it more socially entertaining.
At present, Sandbox VR has launched 7 virtual games, mainly fighting and survival adventure, and the content ecology has yet to be explored. Although the popular "Corpse Blood Valley" raked in $23 million in ticket revenue, LBVR social needs more new stimuli as the market becomes saturated and users become more fatigued. If traffic does not enter the store, the survival of LBVR is in jeopardy.
Currently, LBVR companies rely on tickets and franchise fees for their revenue. For Sandbox VR, ticket revenue is its main source of revenue, along with franchising. Both of these revenue streams are heavily dependent on store footfall.
In order to attract players to enter, Sandbox VR has been pursuing the ultimate texture of the game to enhance the player's immersion. To this end, the company has invested a lot of money in independent research and development of technologies, modes and gameplay. Once virtual reality enters the offline experience store, it needs to invest a lot of venue rent, and VR experience is still in the first and second tier cities. It is conceivable that the more stores are opened, the higher the rental cost.
In response to revenue streams, some companies have begun to turn to multi-format operations, enhancing store revenue by integrating services such as coffee and alcohol. The Park Playground offers coffee service at the VR Experience Store; Another LBVR company, EVA, offers steaks and craft cocktails in store; VR ZONE DC SIMPLY TAKES ON CORPORATE TEAM-BUILDING ACTIVITIES AND OFFERS FOOD AND BEVERAGE PACKAGES.
In general, LBVR is usually between 10-45 minutes per game, which is difficult to attract players to travel to, and players have to consider the next stop after the game. Therefore, the complex format can extend the experience by more than an hour, and can also expand the single-function LBVR store to a social place and become a destination for entertainment and leisure.
There is also a market that LBVR companies have begun to dig into - immersive scripted entertainment, which is our common escape room and scripted killing store.
According to the data of the information service platform of the China Culture and Entertainment Industry Association, during the "May Day" holiday in 2023, the consumption scale of the national offline entertainment market reached 18.67 billion, of which the operating income of immersive scripted entertainment business venues increased by 450% year-on-year, and the number of consumers exceeded 4 million. In the first quarter of 2023 alone, the scale of Meituan's scripted entertainment market increased by 47% month-on-month, taking the escape room industry as an example, the number of active merchants and users on the platform recovered significantly, and sales increased by more than 50% month-on-month. According to the data of the research report, the domestic immersive scripted entertainment industry will reach nearly 44.81 billion yuan in 2025.
Script killing and escape room have begun to evolve from an unpopular niche hobby to the most important behemoth in the offline entertainment market.
French game maker UbiSoft has developed three escape room games based on its famous game "Assassin's Creed", which has been registered in various stores and partner outlets in the VR entertainment brand "VR+ Paradise". In addition, the large-space mobile VR company Immersion World, founded in 2016, has also aimed at this track, cutting from the escape room and providing offline social entertainment based on VR technology to provide virtual reality entertainment content.
But whether it is an escape room or a VR experience hall, it will face the problem of high rent. According to reports, the last real scene secret room in the immersive world used 700 square meters, took a year to decorate, and invested 12 million US dollars into it. In the end, it was concluded that it was difficult to go to this space to enhance the user's experience. This is also the main reason why the immersive world began to engage in "VR secret rooms" - the space that cannot be expanded offline is made up for by virtual reality online.
Compared with live-action script killing and escape room, VR script killing and VR escape room have smaller requirements in terms of site and manpower, and the combination of the two greatly reduces the operating costs of rent, decoration and manpower.
LBVR market prospects are still very broad, according to data forecasts, this model is likely to become a new way for young people to entertain and socialize, the only problem is how to improve the input-output ratio, to put it bluntly, is a problem of operating costs.
In the current consumption downgrade environment, three to four hundred dollars to play a game for up to 45 minutes, you have to make consumers feel worth it.