Remember that company with the wireless VR system that was installed at Dave & Buster’s and the system we “volunteered” Carly to demo and blast zombies like a badass – remember that one? Well they are finally shipping product.
The company is VRstudios and their VR system lets you physically move through and interact within virtual reality.
The VRstudios system is wireless and untethered, meaning you can walk around a virtual space and have all your physical movement tracked while you interact and engage in VR. Even more significantly though is the fact that the system supports multiple participants in the same virtual space, so you can interact with each other in a virtual environment.
Sounds like some next level social VR arcade gaming that I can’t wait to try with friends. The company supposedly has a two-player pistol dueling game that I have yet to try as well. The system includes headsets, cameras and interactive devices.
Now before you get way too excited thinking you’ll have a full wireless first-person shooter VR zombie arcade in your living room – the system is targeted for commercial and enterprise application use and costs anywhere from $40,000-$750,000. Gulp.
Before you tune out, there’s good news.
You might be able to try this at your local Dave & Buster’s in the near future. The VRcade system, which is the gaming system from VRstudios, was first placed in the Dave and Busters Milpitas, CA flagship store as a pilot program late last year. The pilot program lasted several months and was “very successful” according to the company. Lines of up to 4-hours long sometimes formed just to try the VR arcade system.
VRcade at Dave & Buster’s
Now, VRstudios is planning for the next phase in their partnership with Dave & Buster’s.
VRstudios is currently developing additional content and games for Dave & Buster’s that will be “highly recognized industry branded experiences.” Additionally, the VR system will be supporting multi-player capabilities from which point if proven successful will kickoff a more significant Dave and Buster’s rollout. See, our VR arcade with friends and a beer is almost realized.
SEE ALSO: A Virtual Reality Arcade is Coming to Los Angeles
Aside from their Dave & Buster’s partnership, VRstudios separately revealed that during the fourth quarter of 2015 that they had secured “millions” of dollars in new orders and have already delivered and installed its system in the U.S., China and France.
VRstudios is targeting businesses with a turnkey system that is delivered and can be managed by customers after installation and training. The VR system can likely appeal to a variety of industries who would see value in a VR visualization platform, everything from entertainment, enterprise applications, aerospace and retail. Considering the company states they have already delivered systems, there does seem to be some demand.
Back in September of last year, the company announced a $1.35M round of seed funding and has since opened a second round that is expected to bring in “several million dollars of additional investment” by the end of Q1, 2016.
According to research data from Statista, revenues for virtual reality-related hardware and software reached $2.3B worldwide in 2015, a number that is expected to climb to $5.2B by the end of 2018.
Oh yeah, so about that demo of Scout Carly being a badass slaying zombies on VRcades’ system, go ahead and watch below.
