Private Label VR, Has "franchise help" for startups. Arden Fair mall, in Sacramento, has Kiosk area in the foot path of the store. Many times I see people sitting around waiting for their boo to finish shopping at x store. Why can't we put 1+1+1 together, and at 15 dollars base for 15 minutes of play, let people enjoy some time while their other shops. 15x10 is enough room for one small counter, and two very small, play area's or one larger play area, that can be split during "higher" traffic times. What do you guys think.Ever been to the mall, and while one person is shopping, waundered into a gamestop or hottopic or something while the other is looking at shoes / fancy tops / what ever. Or just sat in the middle. Somebody else was starting a business here, Hows that going? I'm just gathering information now, but if anybody wants to help me research I'd gladly kick something down, once I had something. (always the dream right?)
startup costs are the biggest hangup, new equipment is expensive, and the older equipment is either rare, or also expensive. My old boss had three of the big pod VR setups that he used to run, back when it was a big thing, and is looking at using them along with new software and such to do such a thing, his biggest complaint was the constant maintenance, electronics aren't usually very good at being moved about frequently, though, equivalent equipment now to what he was using then could fit in a shoebox you'd want to be at least running modern equipment and the graphics requirements for the higher end VR is actually more taxing than running high end monitors. That said it's certainly something that can be done, and probably would sell well in the right market, but you're going to need a decent amount of startup cash to both get started up, and survive until you can begin turning a profit. There are programs to help with this, however.
Right, really need to calculate it out including: Start up / fixed costs: Equipment, space, training (unless you're all the time), general administrative time to get this set up, franchise fees? Variable costs: Electricity and probably just the wear and tear of the equipment above, how much that is going to run on a monthly basis. Wages if its needed. If wages are needed then accounting, etc. Revenue: Whats your price / min? At that rate, how many people would you need, on average, to pull in to be above your variable costs + any potential loans on your fixed start up costs? Is that possible? If yes, cool, but be realistic about how many people realistically you can draw in considering slower times, weekends, holidays, etc. How long can you go if you aren't drawing any profit (ie your own salary) to start? This is just really basic, but you have to at least know the basic economy of if what you're going to do is going to work.
There is a VR room in Tallinn. It is in mall near the harbour where all the (finnish) tourists come and go, so there is lots of people there with lots of time (and money). Everytime I have walked past it, there has been people playing in it. Here is the website incl. prices: https://www.futuruum.ee/home
you know that's actually not a terrible idea, not the mall bit, but the tourists... I've seen massage parlors in airports lately, what about a short run VR for those people on layover? tons of people, captive audience, and they're guaranteed to move along after a short period because of flight times.
Yeah, like Trev said, Blackfire has a lot of knowledge about the VR business. He would be the one to talk to for advice. I worked as a manager for a mid-sized gaming center so I have some experience with it too, but not to the same degree. Regarding budgeting, whatever you think it will cost, assume it will probably cost you twice that to be sustainable. One of the biggest challenges I faced was replacing broken equipment. Most of the customers we had were kids and they didn't give a shit about how tough they were on the hardware since it wasn't theirs. Now granted, wear and tear can be mitigated by hiring more people to watch customers like hawks to make sure they aren't breaking stuff, but now you are looking at an increase in payroll costs... and that's assuming they are even reliable. There's a balance there you will have to find. The other major toll on equipment is shit gets old and will degrade on its own, so be prepared to have to overhaul everything after 4-6 years. Then there's just the natural progression of technology to consider. It will likely be better to buy last generation gear because it will be way cheaper than current generation stuff. Go for older, but reliable. Finally, as always.... location, location, location. Don't take the building owners at their word. They will tell you anything to make a sale. Stake out places you like and watch foot traffic. Do headcounts on perceived demographics and get a feel for how many you need to stay ahead of rent. You will live or die by that. That's my two cents anyway.
I just unlocked my account from trying to log in back in November. I'm sorry if this is late. I own VegasVR. We're Las Vegas's only mobile Virtual Reality Arcade and Entertainment service and retail store. I'll be celebrating our first year in a couple months. I've used Private Label's Arcade organization program and Springboard's. Neither are perfect and there are pro's and cons of both. Often enough we just went back to using steam. However Private Label aka "VRJUNKIES" Has their hands in alot of honeypots. Their franchise systems is nothing special. Any arcade can use their program. You can start an arcade as long as you follow your Game's licenses. I'm sure it obvious you can't use normal steam/viveport consumer verison. Most are monthly. some are per minute. Not to mention insurence, PC's, equipment costs. Not to be a downer, but people tend to forget, arcades don't make money. They never did. They were meant to keep kids around long enough they get hungry and spend money on food. So I'm going to tell you, don't plan to make alot of money with JUST the arcade. You are going to have to branch yourself out. Now, while the industry average is $1/min. There are a lot of variables. Depending on your location, foot traffic, advertising, displays ect; this won't even pay your first months rent. Because out of 12 hour days, you may only get 3-6 sales. People, don't like kiosks. They are used to getting hawked at by good peddlers. You either pony up for a storefront or you make a custom display/attraction. Make it less like a store and more like a ride. Depending on your hardware. Your going to get tons of people going "Why didn't I/I thought of this" and how this business is turn-key. It's not. You HAVE to work your advertising right, You will run into content stagnation, And everyone "already owns a vr system, our phone company gave them out." Also, the biggest issue with VR is equipment is expensive, replacement controllers are too. The BE version of the Vive isn't worth the $1200. And Oculus can sue if their headset is used in an arcade setting. There is alot. I'm just skimming the surface. I can say that since day 1, we have never been in the red. We were at the shittiest mall in Vegas. www.facebook.com/vegasvrlv www.vegasvr.tech
