VR first came about in 2016, and whilst for some it was seen as a gimmick, destined to fail just like 3D TV’s, its proved this year that its doing its best to stick around.
This is seen clearly with businesses such as Pirate Escape based in Whitley Bay in the North East of England.
Pirate Escape is a live escape game venue featuring three escape rooms all of which are pirate themed.
Now with the help of North East VR it has expanded into VR experience sessions.
These experiences last up to one hour and can accommodate up to four players.
Taking turns each person has the chance to get their hands on the latest virtual reality games.
As well as hour, long sessions Pirate Escape also features team building and mobile VR events for anything from schools to weddings.
Speaking about why they chose to delve into VR Daniel Simms, Owner of Pirate Escape said: “We spotted a gap in the market about 2 years ago when VR first started becoming more widely available but not cost effective for people to have in their own home.”
They use the latest technology available with the HTC vive headset.
The range of games Pirate Escape holds is constantly refreshing from arcade experiences to horror.
Speaking about why people would want to come and try out VR Daniel said: “To experience something truly unique. VR is becoming a lot more popular and mainstream now so more people want to get their hands on it and try it out.”
The market research company IDC projected worldwide revenue from AR and VR would grow from around £4.1 billion in 2016 to £128 billion by 2020.
If that wasn’t enough analysis by Deloitte LLP revealed that more than 150 companies in multiple industries are testing or have deployed AR or VR solutions.
Daniel commented on this saying: “It is likely most people will have VR in their homes in the next few years. It’s also possible that business may start using it for various activities as it is so diverse.”
VR has become an extremely creative medium with a whole host of games from Tetris to Farpoint.
There are so many headsets to choose from now from Oculus Rift, PSVR and HTC Vive.
It’s also no surprise that this year has been fantastic for PlayStation VR with exclusives such as Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and timed exclusive Moss.
PSVR has has seen units selling out time and time again and has now become one of the more affordable headsets on the market.
This year also saw the momentous release of Beat Saber developed by a small independent studio called Beat Games which sold over 100K units in its first month and generated over £1.5 Million in revenue.
Looking forwards to the future of Pirate Escape Daniel said: “We have thought of combining an escape room with VR in the future at some point and think this would be a really interesting idea however, it’s only an idea at this stage.”
You can find out more about Pirate Escape via their website.
Fancy trying out VR? You can also make bookings here.
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