What are the steps to opening a VR venue?

Before you start looking for a location or the games you want to offer in your RV space (although these steps are essential), take the time to make a budget and a business plan.

The first step in opening a VR arcade, the business model will allow you to validate how you want (and can) operate. It will allow you to save precious time afterward. This first phase in opening your virtual reality business involves defining several elements. You will therefore have to choose the type of experience you want to offer.

Indeed, virtual reality is a very vast field. By opening a VR space, you will be able to offer several types of experiences: multiplayer, escape games, immersive experiences including horror, shooting, discovery ... and for all audiences.

Once you've decided on the type of VR experience you want to deliver in your VR room, your next step will be to decide on the number of VR games and the type of billing.

Some operators choose to charge per minute, the other to bill per game played. In any case, plan to pay the publisher of the games for a license as well (whether they come from Steam, Octopod, or other catalogs). Unless you have your own custom VR game developed!

These elements are part of another essential step in opening your VR room: the estimated budget. Thanks to this fundamental document, you will be able to validate the viability of your project.

On a spreadsheet, gather all your expenses (local, possible works, upgrading, maintenance, taxes, salary, VR games) and receipts (either an estimate of the number of entries or privatizations if you plan to make it, for example). This element will be a real decision-making aid for you.

To these two key stages in opening a VR room, you can add a few additional elements of your business: a catering activity (or at least a refreshment bar) to welcome your players in a warm atmosphere and allow them to stay on-site longer.

Choosing your location is another important period in opening your Location-Based Entertainment VR.

In your research, several elements should be taken into account:

• the surface: customers who come to a virtual reality game center want to live an experience they cannot reproduce in their living room. It is, therefore, in your interest to offer free roaming multiplayer games that are playable on large surfaces. For information, most VR game playgrounds have a footprint of more than 100m2.
• location: another key phase in opening your room, location is essential. If your strategy is to reach as many prospects as possible, try to target locals in the city center as a priority (even if it is indeed difficult to find spaces of more than 100m2 in an urban center). If your strategy is to have unique experiences with appealing products, try to find a large local in out-of-town areas. You will have the possibility of having more spaces for a lower rent (and therefore the possibility of offering games in Warehouse space). On the other hand, your communication strategy will have to be more effective to attract more customers to your remote location. Indeed, your VR games room must be accessible to everyone, including minors who cannot drive. Being in the city center makes sure you are served by public transport.

The choice of its premises and its location when opening a VR Arcade is therefore an essential step. Because a well-placed room, in a high-traffic area, can attract many customers, unlike a poorly located room in a poorly served space, which will be difficult to promote.

After choosing your location to open your Location-Based Entertainment VR and receiving the keys, a new stage awaits you: the works. You will probably have work to do in your virtual reality play area.

Indeed, your center must be accessible to people with disabilities, to be in accordance with this legal obligation, you must create access ramps or put elevators in your VR center.

Another step for your virtual reality games arcade: the arrangements to accommodate games. Virtual reality games take place in 3 types of spaces (called playgrounds) with different dimensions:

• box experiments from 4 to 9 m2
• room-scale experiences from 16 to 20 m2
• warehouse-scale experiences that can be played on areas of more than 200 m2!

Depending on the space you have available, you can set up larger or smaller VR gaming areas requiring a greater or lesser number of rooms.

Surround yourself with trades you trust to carry out the work and allow for leeway over the timing you had planned for the opening of your VR games room. Indeed, this step may take longer than expected ...

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Choosing the right games is probably the step that you are looking forward to the most in opening your VR gaming space. Choose primarily high-quality entertaining content that customers cannot find on platforms and therefore try at home.

To justify the travel and expense for your audience, offer multiplayer games. We advise you to meet several studios during the phase of choosing the games for your VR space. They will know how to develop content with high added value, adapted to your center.

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Another element to consider when choosing virtual reality games: is target games for all audiences. You must be able to accommodate people from 10 to 100 years old! Since virtual reality does not require technical know-how, it is for everyone. It's up to you to choose experiences that will appeal to all profiles. To do this, vary the worlds, gameplays, or even the types of interactions between players and the game.

A virtual reality game can take place in several worlds: from the haunted house to the military base, including the medieval or science fiction world, anything is possible! However, keep in mind when choosing your video games that certain universes are 'must-haves' that video game aficionados expect to find in a VR arcade. This is the case with sci-fi, horror, and medieval fantasy universes.

After having chosen all these elements for your virtual reality activity, your next step will be to select the type of interactions between the players, consider adding games to your offer that are also great classics: the shooting game is one of them.

Multiplayer virtual reality games are also very valuable to your business. You can choose to add team-versus-team or team-versus-play games to your VR center.

Another step to take for the launch of your VR arcade is the duration of the VR games offered in your room. Choose VR games that are long enough that customers have time to enjoy. That being said, prefer games that make customers want to try a second experience.

The development studio

Here is an essential partner! As we have seen, choosing the experiences you want to offer in your virtual reality room is an essential step. This is why choosing a good development studio that you trust is crucial. Choose a partner who has already produced several games, go meet him and maintain a relationship of trust with them.

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An accountant

He will be your ally throughout the preparation for the launch of your activity and during the exploitation of the VR space! He will guide you through the different steps to launch a VR arcade room.

Your accountant will support you in the technical development of your project. It is up to you, as the sole bearer of your VR project, to ask the chartered accountant to assist you in the social, legal, and tax areas.

Management tools

Once you have validated the partners with whom you want to move forward, the next step in opening your VR room will be to choose a management tool. It must be easy to use and it must respond to your business issues.

Game management side: choose software that will allow you to launch games remotely, restart a game, pause a game, make updates, manage your customers, manage reservations ...

He must help you with all the actions that you will do daily. The choice of your management ecosystem is therefore important and constitutes an important step in the opening of your room management because it can save you precious time, which can be used in customer reception, or customer care.

Another important management tool: CRM (Customer Relationship Management): thanks to CRM, you can find the data of your customers' games which you can analyze to offer VR experiences that are always more in line with customer needs.

You will understand that choosing your partners is therefore a very important step for your VR room. Your business will indeed be strongly impacted by these decisions.

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The virtual reality headsets offered on the market are changing very quickly. Virtual reality has taken off with the entry into the market of headsets with more advanced features, as well as a low cost / low-cost standalone headsets.

Depending on the type of virtual reality games you want to offer and the surface area available in your VR games room, we recommend different types of headsets:

• for boxed VR games: in small spaces of 4 to 9 m2: Oculus Rift S headset with its controllers. It is possible to have Touch or HTC Vive / Vive Pro controllers (to be verified)
• for VR games in Room: in rooms of less than 20 m2: HTC Vive Pro headset with its 2 controllers
• for warehouse-scale games: in spaces of 200 m2 and more: WMR (Windows Mixed Reality) headsets offer a so-called “Inside out” tracking system. The Samsung Odyssey headset, the HP Reverb G1, and soon the G2, are helmets allowing efficient tracking and free movement. Regarding the choice of the 'backpack' (computer to wear on the back) we recommend the use of the HP Z VR G2. For games in a mobile stand: Oculus Rift S headset with its 2 Touch controllers.

Currently, few helmets have been announced or planned for 2021

The Wanadev teams are carrying out tests on VR headsets in general, If one of them has characteristics as interesting as the headsets that we currently use, it is not excluded that we will work with several headsets at the same time.

Also, several other elements for the material must be taken into account to launch a virtual reality gaming activity.

This step of launching your activity therefore requires:

• an ethernet network and good wifi coverage
• a dedicated “launcher” station also called “Game Master”
• a dedicated “server” station
• also provide specific equipment for each player (storage, headphones if not included in the helmet, etc.)

With the democratization of virtual reality thanks to autonomous headsets and the many players entering, it remains difficult for connoisseurs to convince (many) neophytes of the advantages of it and the improvement it has benefited from in the last few years. The main challenge for launching your virtual reality games room will therefore be to communicate and make the games you offer as widely known as possible.
You will not be able to skip this step while operating your VR room.
The first step in developing the marketing strategy for your VR space: defining your target audiences. Of course, virtual reality is for all audiences, but certain targets are already acquired by your cause. It is the others that you have to go find that interest us.

To help you in the stage of developing the marketing strategy for your VR room, you can define personas. They represent your ideal client. These fictitious people, therefore, represent a target audience. by humanizing this target audience you will address them in a much more relevant way.

Then, practice “pitching” your project in a few sentences. You need to know exactly how to define your business and what you are selling. This exercise will help you present your project - first to the bank - and secondly to your target audience.

To properly implement this step around the communication of your VR space, start communicating as soon as possible. You will be ready to welcome your customers as soon as your VR room opens.

You can use several levers to set up your marketing strategy:

• institutional communication: first step to launch the marketing strategy of your VR room: choose a logo, a font, and a universe (and a name - if possible original). Make sure that all communication media that come out of your VR room are branded with your logo and your font
• digital communication: you cannot ignore a website to get started in virtual reality games. The purpose of this site is to be able to find you and see what you are doing. You must therefore be able to find, as a priority, on your website: images and videos of your VR games as well as information to come and see you: the address and phone number of your VR games space. You will also have another phase to validate to set up the digital communication of your VR gaming space: the creation of social networks. If the creation of these social networks dedicated to your virtual reality gaming activity is an essential step, feeding these accounts by a publication every 2 days will allow you to create a real community of fans around your VR room.
• press relations: your objective is to make people talk about you, to spread the word about the launch of a virtual reality room in the local press or even in the specialized press is therefore good publicity for you and therefore an excellent way to create visibility.
• partnerships: they are another step for your VR room. By partnering with other leisure facilities (with a combined ticket for example) you will increase your visibility
• of street marketing: after having made and then printed communication media, you need to distribute them to as many people as possible. For this stage of the marketing strategy of your VR gaming space, you can call on a street marketing agency. They will offer you to distribute your flyers or to distribute them in mailboxes. You can also invest in events in which you will find your targets (fairs, music festivals, theater ...).

To evangelize to the general public on virtual reality, many actions can be taken. Here we have listed the main steps to complete before opening your virtual reality game room.

The advantage of a virtual reality game room is that it can accommodate businesses and individuals. Your target is therefore twofold.

For individuals, you must find the right limit to bring them in and recoup your costs while not blocking them because of the price. The quality of the experiences you offer is therefore essential since it is this that will justify (or not) the price of the entry ticket.

For companies, the problem is different since they often have more resources. To get them to come to your VR games room, you can play on other arguments: the possibility of privatizing the entire VR room, the recommendation of caterers, the existence of rooms for debriefing… All these elements will help decision-makers to choose. your virtual reality play area rather than another.

Several elements must be taken into account to establish your price:

• the purchase of equipment: it is often a real investment, even if the price of helmets has become more affordable, having a fleet of helmets requires an expensive investment
• the location of your room: a virtual reality games room in the city center will inevitably have higher costs than an outlying room.
• the number and quality of virtual reality games: if a VR gaming space offers extremely high-quality games that are multiplayer, the public will be more inclined to justify the purchase price of the ticket.