An insight on the present and future of Virtual Reality
If you own a non-themed venue, such as a mall, a small amusement park or any entertainment center that hasn’t got a specific theme, you understand the potential of a digital attraction to entertain your guests. Teleport VR is a russian company specialized in Virtual Reality that recently opened its own Teleport VR Park, the largest VR park in Europe and chose Red Raion’s content for its VR attractions. Despite VR technology is still struggling to reach homes and private users, it is living its golden age thanks to Location-Based Entertainment. Teleport VR knows it very well: the whole surface of its park is indeed entirely “covered” in AR and VR attractions for all ages and tastes and even has its own digital currency! Following, an interview with Dzmitry Sultanov, Commercial Director at Teleport VR, who shared with us some insights on the evolution of this trend that is growing and spreading as far as the eye can see.What made you think of opening a park that revolves around VR technology?VR is one of the most rapidly developing global trends. Creating a business in an increasing trend is always profitable because, with your boost, you will additionally get a market boost as well. Teleport’s owner Sergey was on vacation in a European country. He visited a VR location and was impressed by how many opportunities VR opens such as the development of personal digital content for the end customer.
Where do you see this trend going in the next years?VR segmentation for this past 2019 hasn't changed much. As a matter of fact, despite the introduction of several new VR glasses in the market, this trend is not accelerating at a rapid pace but remaining expensive and not very convenient for the end consumer. If we talk about the segment in which we work, namely Location-Based Entertainment VR, as the IAAPA Expo in Orlando showed, this segment is gaining force, offers new interesting products in the entertainment industry and, perhaps it is one of the most demanded and dynamically developed segments in the world. Followed by segments in the field of B2B, education, various VR training, professional simulators, VR guides, etc.
How did you affirm your brand in the market? What do you think stands behind your VR park success?We took a lot of time to create an international end-to-end brand. Then, the Teleport brand name was chosen. One of the characteristics of our business model - that we believe to be a significant competitive advantage - is the diversity of the customer experience achieved by dividing the park into several areas. We could be compared to a VR hypermarket. We have a variety of VR experiences, customers spend a lot of time inside our park, and the return rate is high. Additionally, we also organize corporate events and birthdays.
Video content specifically designed for the attractions industry is what allows great hardware to shine. How important is VR content specifically thought for media-based attractions for you?Good content is king. It’s the true key to success and we truly believe that. From the first day, as soon as we started opening our parks and franchisee we began to develop the content as well. An ideal picture of great content in 2022 would be if the consumers watched “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens” in the cinema and immediately after the movie they could play a virtual game of the same film using their digital avatar. Plus, the first social VR network “Facebook Horizon”, which launched this year will contribute to this.
What are you looking for in a content provider that you found in Red Raion? Tell us why you decided to consider the movies designed by Red Raion to power your attractions.We like the content that Red Raion develops because of the high quality and variety of media experiences. Customers have the opportunity to watch already familiar and well-loved characters (like Aladdin and other franchises). Red Raion knows how VR simulators work and how the best rides are made.
What are your future projects with Teleport?Teleport plans to open no less than 10 own and franchised locations under the brand name Teleport in 2020. Also, we’ll continue distributing simulators throughout the world.
