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The Stinger Report #1248 - Entertainment Break Out
Leading investors should note a dynamic shift in the international leisure entertainment sector, marked by increased M&A activity, notably GENDA’s expansion into Western markets and strategic partnerships in Japan, alongside a resurgence of touchscreen game terminals and new immersive formats like dual- and screen-deluxe cabinets. The industry faces geopolitical trade restrictions impacting Asian releases, while the virtual and eSports landscapes are experiencing valuation corrections, signaling caution. Meanwhile, the growth of sim racing, exemplified by F1 Arcade’s expansion and innovative hardware, reflects rising consumer engagement. Overall, the sector is embracing immersive display technology and strategic consolidation, poised for selective growth amid geopolitical and market valuation challenges.
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This is the Stinger Report, issue number 1248, Entertainment Breakout by Kevin Williams. The end of the summer holidays, and we jumped directly into the turmoil of the international leisure entertainment sector, facing global conditions, increased inflationary impacts, and issues surrounding export and import business in key territories. Let the fun begin. During August, and we had the Experience UK, Experience on Main Street Conference, taking place at Manchester's Little Lion Entertainment Arcade Arena space, comprising 23 projectors and offering a flexible entertainment and private event space with Experience UK event turning the play space into a conference venue. Regarding Little Lion Entertainment, they used this event to reveal that they had raised new funding from HSBC UK towards a new plan to roll out three new UK-based facilities, all comprising the multiple projection environment for operation of both the Pac-Man Lave Experience and Chaos Karts. More details regarding the impact of this move in the social entertainment landscape in coming entertainment social arena coverage. This is discussed in greater detail in our coming entertainment social arena feature in the new service. Ending August, and several developments were seen across the traditional amusement trade scene. The Industry's American Amusement Machine Association, AAMA Gala, was held seeing a record-breaking vindication the relocation to Dallas and the new August window of activities. Most importantly, the new all access annual meeting ushered in a new level of engagement between the industry and association. New and first-time attendees bolstered the record attendance of 108. AAMA business was carried out with the election of new board members, along with the work of the charity investments. Trade evening visits included seeing the latest Chuck E. Cheese location, along with a presentation from the CEO. The association was buoyed by the success of this gathering and looks to build on this for next year, including new plans for the Amusement Entertainment International Expo in March 2026. More details on these developments coming soon. Gender was in the UK news with the announcement of the entering into a definitive agreement with Inspired Entertainment. The Gaming, Betting, and Lottery Corporation with Virtual Sports and Management Solution Interest confirmed they would be offloading their UK holiday park business and associated leisure interests, representing 100 amusement facilities and 125 mini-locations, into the operation IndigoNUCO that would be acquired by Gender once the agreement had been ratified for£18.6 million,$25.1 million in cash. Once established, the two corporations would also use the new company towards development of gaming content and platforms and would see Gender's Japanese IP and branding deployed into the market from these interests. Yet the latest major facility and operations merger and acquisition from the Japanese corporation, since their U.S. deal to acquire assets and operations from Player One Entertainment and from National Entertainment Network, NEN. Long-term readers of the Stinger Report will be familiar with our coverage of Inspired Entertainment and their round of merger and acquisitions of gaming and amusement operations such as NTG, along with Belfruit, GamesTech, and Astro Games. The corporation was also instrumental in establishing the virtual sports platform, creating virtual betting experiences, successfully pivoting from the traditional amusement trade into the gaming sector with some 50,000 gaming terminal running their content. Gender has also been growing their home territory business, branching into entertainment venue business away from their Gigo operation. Announcement a partnership with a Sobasystem to open Kawaii Monsterland in Harajuku, Japan in winter 2025, promising to be the world's most photogenic entertainment space. One of those businesses that inspired previously was involved within the amusement scene in the UK was that of touchscreen game terminals. Once highly popular in bars and taverns, these units offered casual gaming long before the ubiquity of the smartphone. There now seems a possibility that the bar top or touchscreen game terminal may be about to make a comeback. For reference, the bar top or terminal business was fought over in the late 1990s. Companies such as JVL with their Vortex, Merit with their Mega Touch, and Midway with their Touchmaster, a business that saw Merit as one of the leading providers of platforms, business that crossed from the States into the European scene. Eventually the march of technology moved interest in gaming terminals to other applications more related to the gaming side of the business, and eventually these systems lost their popularity when at the same time the corporations behind them suffered in the changing waters of the end of the 20th century amusement trade. Gender was also in the Western News with the announcement of the combining of their 14 different North American operations recently acquired. The combined operation broken into three divisions under the new title of GENDA Americas. We hope to have more information of the impact this will have across the USA and Canadian divisions for our IAAPA Orlando coverage. The next event of interest to our XRLBE perspective was the Sim Game Expo 2025, taking place at the beginning of September in Chicago, the event celebrating the explosion of Sim Racing and its growing popularity with gamers of all ages. The exhibition component of the expo had a plethora of race rig manufacturers, PC hardware and sim accessories from force feedback wheels to full instrumentation. All this and the vital software component of the race experience. The crossover between the prosumers with full race rig setups at home and the casual SIM lounge user is self-evident, and several exhibitors were promoting services for the emerging SIM Racing Center. On such was RaceData AI, using AI in the gathering of telemetry data for leaderboard and guest retention. Numerous race rigs employing D-Box actuator technology, technology prevalent in the LBE arena. The growth of sim racing in mainstream, best illustrated by the recent opening of F1 Box, as covered in our sister publication, The Entertainment Social Arena, we had a chance to visit a private event for the soft opening of this companion location to the expanding F1 arcade chain. The retail unit-based 12 simulator racing hub offers at the Westfield Mall in Stratford a means for novices and F1 fans alike to immerse themselves in the magic of the racing experience. The team behind the concept still using this concept as a pop-up installation that could evolve into a permanent placement. The venue shares the same points system as employed in the social entertainment parent. The F1 Arcade operation announcing plans to roll out the concept in Europe with a Madrid, Spain location planned to open in 2027. This part of a rollout in the region through a partnership with Top Racing Iberia. This will see an acceleration of the expansion from the current five UK and US sites. The F1 Arcade and F1 Box venues, partnered with Vizarro, deploying their dual-screen V0, Mark II Systems, the race simulator's motion empowered by D-Box actuators, with content powered by Motorsport Games R Factor II racing simulation platform. At this time, F1 Arcade also opened their latest US venue with the opening of the 15,000 square foot Denver, Colorado site. Regarding the wider competition aspect of the entertainment sphere and the issues impeding the esports landscape were placed into sharp relief with the news of the sale of one of the largest esports studios. Luminosity Gaming was sold to Vertical Studios for$646,000. Luminosity is an esports organization fielding a roster of teams that compete in high-profile events, founded in 2015, with strong social media feeds viewed by supporters of the teams. While Vertical is a gaming lifestyle corporation working in the entertainment sector, the sale allows Luminosity's previous owner, Enthusiast Gaming, to make major cost-saving efforts across their business. Luminosity Gaming had seen previous valuations of some$1 million, and this sales price is a massive drop in valuation, this reflecting a general implosion in valuation of the esports teams and operations in general, raising concerns that esports is about to experience an industry-wide correction of the market's worth. Companies previously speculated as being multi-million dollar concerns corrected down, sending vibrations through the industry and their investors. Asian Amusement Mix, jumping across the seas to China, and the 17th Game Time International, GTI China, 2025, was held at the China Import and Export Fair, Pajou Complex, Guangzhou. The September event saw some 600 exhibitors, covering several of the halls of the complex and revealing Chinese factory aspirations. Some developers looking at the show as a chance to show new releases that will not be able to travel to Spain or Florida. The new amusement pieces that did not get a AAA 25 showing included from WAHLAP Technology celebrating their 35th anniversary in business, presenting StormRacer 2, a motion racing sim seat, released in a configuration that is part of the new style of a vertically mounted 85-inch screen, superseding the previous dual horizontally mounted 4K screens seen before. A platform configuration we expect to become a norm, and for the sake of brevity, we will label as the Screen Deluxe platform. A big presentation for a fast-paced racer developed by 3 Mindwave, who normally work with Sega Amusement International, able to be networked into a four-player configuration. This game seen as a high water mark, being an Asian release that would normally have universal Western appeal, but will be hampered by the current trade restrictions. Another Screen Deluxe cabinet at the show was the Stormrider DX, a motorcycle ride on a cabinet linked to the vertical screen platform using the same screen platform, the four-player network, and another supportive development from 3 Mindwave and Warlab. A derivation of the screen deluxe placement as we saw a dual configuration of the 85-inch displays, we are labeling dual deluxe screen layout with the release Phantom Vanguard Modern Combat. A two-player mounted pistol shooter, a novel approach to the mounted gun, not seen since the SAI Mission Impossible shooter, this time developed by Game Loft, working with amusement configuration with IGS Warlap, did not end there. With the releases were reskins of previous releases. Warlap partnering hard with Konami to re-release previous platform to hope to relaunch these games into the market. The Konami Bomani series Jubeyat was released afresh from Warlap along with Bombergirl. Across on other GTI-25 booths and products of interest included exhibitor Flamestone Amusement, Hua Shichuan Yu Technology, revealed the unusual twin-mounted shooter, Flamestone Cannon, housed on the now ubiquitous Screen Deluxe cabinet, but with an unusual physical mounted cannon prop as part of the design, a prop that would not survive Western deployment. The shooting game category was also supported by Flamestone with Treasure Hunt Adventure, a machine gun game, along with a new four-player shotgun game called Master Hunter. Over at the extensive Unis Technologies booth, the major Chinese player had presentations with big ramifications for the Western amusement scene. GTI 25 saw the reveal of the non-VR version of Godzilla Kaju Wars from Raw Thrills. The Deluxe Motion version of the previous VR title offered a sleek design, confirming the existence of this game as an actual release after being seen on secret lock test. A very telling indication on the cooling of the VR love affair in the amusement scene. That said, the game was across the aisle from the previously released Alpha Op VR Strike on demonstration. The reaction to the news of a non-VR version of the popular mounted shooter was positive, reflecting some operators' concern with deploying VR games but wanting to share in the popularity of the title. It would seem this is not becoming an issue of reflection from many amusements manufacturers regarding offering a VR and non-VR version of future releases. The Unis presented Godzilla Kaju Wars non-VR cabinet employed the dual 65-inch UHD horizonal screen configuration as originally seen on Raw Thrill's Fast and Furious Arcade. What we will call the dual deluxe screen layout. This screen configuration was also seen at GTI 25 from UNIS's new racer Top Speed Legend, which was an analogue of F and FA, with the same screen and motion layout. A motorbike racer called Neon Rush, using the dual deluxe configuration was presented, previously trailed at AAA 25, and UNIS showed a localized version of Top Gun Maverick. The Chinese manufacturer representing repurposed Raw Thrills amusement pieces in the local market, as well as Goldstorm Pirates, Deluxe from Bandai Namco Experience. Unis Booth at the show also had some unique releases, including Jumpmaster, a Pogo Stick-style racing game in a twin-player cabinet configuration. A highly active arcade racer that builds on the competition seen with the original Pogo Jump title from four years ago. Another active play game released was Monster Jet Riders, a jet ski standing experience. The game was teased at AAA 25 but made its official release at GTY25. While a kid-friendly video was also debuted at the show with Dino Dash, players sitting astride little dinosaurs. Regarding a general snapshot of GTI 25 exhibitors, and Oculeap presented Monster Jeep VR Motion Attraction, along with other previously released VR Amusement platforms. This reflected a lower than previous representation of VR platforms at this kind of event. More conventional amusement representation was seen from ACE Amusement, who are normally represented by UDC in EMAE sector and Amusement Source International in US. Their rundown of new releases that had been trailed at AAA 25 included Hover Rush, sporting a dual deluxe screen layout and motion cockpit to control your racing hovercraft, with a four-player network configuration available. Ace also showed Dino Attack, a shooter, four-player machine gun game shooting prehistoric prey, the system coming in a cabinet with a large 4K display. In a surprise move, Ace had a version of the game as a mounted shooter in its own motion bench environment cabinet enclosure, a new development competing against the larger DX enclosure releases, such as Monster Eye 3, Goldstorm Pirates, and the like. The supporting of new configurations of cabinet presentation seemed to be indicated by ACE's lineup of titles. Best illustrated by the availability in both dual deluxe with motion and a slightly smaller screen deluxe variants of the motorbike racer Biker Madness, the ride on action following a proven popular formula. The Chinese Expo offers an excellent opportunity to chart trends shaping video amusement, though the impact on the Western market may be slightly less compared on previous years. The move to dual deluxe and screen deluxe formats seems to one example that may make Western landfall if priced attractively. A greater level of display immersion and inevitability in a market that had been promised so much by immersive technology such as headsets, but had found the transition difficult. It was interesting that the Chinese show was also used as a venue for high level meetings on possible franchise expansion of existing LBE chains. Representatives from Chuck E. Cheese attended the GTI 25 event, arranging franchise appointments. Our thanks to partner Arcade Heroes for filling in the details of the event.
