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Futuresource Forecasts Location-Based VR Spending To Reach $809 Million By 2022

Virtual reality arcades continue to be one of the best ways to introduce players to VR and this forecast follows that trend.

Charles Singletary Jr

April 24, 2018 3:40 PM

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With the steady growth of the virtual reality industry, various firms have started to track and attempt to predict where the various divisions of VR are headed when it comes to spending. Futuresource publishes a Global Virtual Reality Tracker and predicts that, by 2022, location-based VR spending will reach $809 million and multiplayer experiences will account for 41% of LBVR investments.

“Q1 2018 saw significant growth and rising consumer spend, which is expected to lead to full year spend of $299 million in 2018 across the four types of LBVR categorised as arcades, multi-player experiences, VR cinemas and VR theme parks," says Carl Hibbert, Associate Director of Consumer Media & Technology at Futuresource Consulting, in a quoted statement on Blooloop. "Of all four categories, ‘VRcades’ has seen the fastest take off. The category was estimated at $79 million consumer spend in 2017, accounting for 40% of all LBVR revenues.”

The report from Blooloop goes on to mention other major entities invested in location-based VR, such as IMAX, Warner Bros, Ubisoft, and startup Zero Latency. Just last week, we reported on a new location-based VR Alien experience that launched at The Outlets at Orange County in California. Like Alien: Descent and Disney's Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire VR experience, the marriage of popular brands and franchises with the immersive experiences that come from VR could certainly grow the VR arcade industry in a big way.

AMC, another major force in entertainment media, is even investing big money into VR multiplexes. If someone strikes gold in the near future, the boosted immersion supplied by haptic force feedback gloves could play a part in growth as well.

What do you think? Hit us with your take in Chatty and let us know if you've personally experienced VR. If you did so in an arcade, share your story.

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.