July 2018

10 11 OPENING LINES channels if we’re going to be able to make big budget content.” I think that’s where VR Arcades could shine-by offering an experience that is affordable, accessi- ble, in every neighborhood, and more immersive than you could ever have at home. In addition, VR Arcades need to offer a customer experience that could never be replicated at home. Multiplayer, tournaments, food and beverage, party play, and leader boards are all part of that picture. More and more, content creators are building experiences specifically for VR Arcades. I’ve talked to a number of indie studios that are realizing that they can make good money developing content specifically for the out-of-home VR space.And while consumer VR headset utilization numbers keep dropping, the LBVRE (location based virtual reality) numbers continue to grow. In the last three months alone we’ve seen 100+ new arcades start using SpringboardVR and we’re tracking over 3 million minutes played on our platformmonthly. There are currently 180+ titles right now on our platform that VR Arcades can license on a per-min- ute basis, including titles like Arizona Sunshine, Budget Cuts, SmashboxArena, Space Pirate Trainer, Quivr, Skyfront, Richie’s Plank Experience, and more. And with content creators focusing more on content tailored for the out-of-home market, the experienc- es at VR Arcades will only get better. I believe that the VR Arcade option will continue to be a positive one for content creators that want stable income in this gap period before we hit mass consumer adoption. To wrap,while in-home adoption of VR has not grown as expected, out-of-home VR is picking up steam.And the industry is starting to realize that the first-time VR experience for an increasing number of people is going to be at a VR Arcade.Over the last sixmonths alone we’ve recorded 13.9 million min- utes played in VR Arcades across the globe-most of those minutes played by first time customers. Consequently, thousands of VR Arcades in small towns and big cities around the world really are the “front lines” in the battle for mass consumer adop- tion.And while the Dave & Busters and IMAX’s of the world may get all the press,millions of people around the world are having their first experience of VR at their local VR Arcade. My hope is that over the next 12 months,VR Arcades begin to work out some of the kinks, see next-level games made for out-of-home release, develop loyal customers, get better data to make better decisions and see even more operators hit profitability. Those in VR Arcade industry are pioneers on a new frontier. My hope is that we all do everything we can to support each other along the way! Over the last six months alone we’ve recorded 13.9 million minutes played in VR Arcades across the globe-most of those minutes played by first time customers. Sincerely, Will Stackable, SpringboardVR Co-Founder for the arcade industry? The jury is still out. But it might look something like a treadmill, haptic suit, high-end controllers, top-shelf HMD, and a top of the line PC… think Ready Player One’s full body Immersion Rig. And if content creators had a standard “unit of VR” to develop for, they could create next level content that would draw even more people in. Simon Revely from Figment Productions put it well, “We might be able to make great ‘VR films’ but we’ll never pay for them if we don’t have enough places to sell them. Avengers cost $350 million to make. And that can work when you have 171,755 cinema screens worldwide that made $40 billion in revenue last year. For VR we need to scale up the out-of-home distribution