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Sound Off #96 - Clawcade Boom Or Bust, Netflix+AMC, C-level Shakeups, & more!
Sponsored by Intercard!
Sponsored by Alan-1!
On this week's episode we start off debating the clawcade surge, asking where these crane-only venues work, when they fail, and how branding and location shape outcomes. Then we track major shifts across immersive free-roam, cinema–streaming tie-ups, leadership changes at big park groups, and the rise of social shooting galleries.
• viability of clawcades and fair operation
• importance of high-traffic sites and matching IP
• mixed-use models like Emoji World
• UK Pizza Hut administration context and lessons
• immersive exhibitions, Fever distribution, replay value
• China’s Netflix House analog and XR buzz
• Disney flops, IP risk, and leadership pressure
• Merlin, Six Flags, and Five Star Parks movements
• European acquisitions and competitive socializing push
• Netflix–AMC alliance and theater economics
• Stranger Things at Sandbox VR and timing strategy
• Japan Amusement Expo product signals
• competitive social shooting’s roots and monetization
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Are you on the edge of your state? Because we're about to stay with the covering today's latest trends in location-based game. Brought to you by the LBX Collective. Your community collective a fire. All right, everyone. Let's buckle up.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Well, welcome everybody to Sound Off with Kevin Williams. This is number 96 for October 28th. Kevin, my friend, how are you doing?
SPEAKER_03:I'm doing well, Brandon. How are you doing, more importantly?
SPEAKER_01:I'm doing great. Great. It's a good week here. It feels like fall. I love fall. It's my favorite season of the year. So I'm you know ready to ready to go.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I like fall in other countries. Here it's wet, windy, and beginning to be cold, and the leaves are falling off. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Let's uh I guess we'll just dive into it then. And uh yeah, how are you going to uh how are you going to change my mind?
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, we've been touching upon it uh quite often in sound off, really, uh sorry, in open and shut. And I thought it was time that we, you know, grabbed the lance, as it were, and and touched upon, you know, how the amusement trade is going to address the uh the new claw machine trades. Um, I have, as you would expect, I am a very opinionated individual and I have some very strong views about these claw cades, as they uh some people like to call them. Um I am a fan of the new wave uh claw machines. Uh they mirror a lot of the UFO systems that we saw uh achieving such success uh in Japan. But also I am concerned that this is uh a mushrooming business that has a lot of questions about it. We have three serious concerns about clockades. Number one, are they being run uh honestly? Uh there have been uh problems in Hong Kong, uh uh especially uh as well in North America of clockades that are obviously scam facilities where uh the claws have been manipulated or uh the uh products on offer don't marry up with what they're given after they do their swap out. We also have the issue of what's the longevity of these businesses? Are these going concerns or are these pop-ups? Should we be treating them as flyby nights or as part of a permanent uh amusement business mix? Because if they're just flyby nights and pop-ups, then their disappearance will have an impact uh on us permanent uh entertainment facilities. And finally, how much is our trade embracing these new operators to our business and getting them to follow all of the bylines and uh uh product requirements uh that we we feel are essential for the prices that we give our guests, or are they just skirting the law and hoping to make a quick buck? Those are my points, Brandon.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think it depends obviously on the country, the culture of the country that you're in as well. Um, I think my big concern here is where these are going in. Often we see a clockade going into just some beat-down shopping uh strip strip mall, shopping center area of a rural, you know, of a rural town because their real estate is cheap and somebody got a you know a couple of cranes and they're throwing them in there. I think my biggest concern is is those, um, mostly because, you know, one, you know, are they the new wave crane machines? Maybe, maybe not, probably not in some of those cases. Um, two, how are they being operated? But three, just the amount of foot traffic, this really needs to go into a high foot traffic area in order to be successful as a standalone operation. Um, it should be really augmenting additional entertainment, F and B, hospitality experiences that are in the area. And so I think I just get more concerned about where we tend to see these popping up. Obviously, the ones that are going into high traffic shopping malls, um, and I'm talking about here in the US, right? So different culture in other countries, but here in the US, if it's not in a high traffic shopping mall or really high traffic shopping center, especially those that attract the demographic that is interested in the IP that's in the cranes, um, I think that's where I see concern. A lot of investment, there's a lot of saturation happening, and we're gonna see a lot of closures over the next few years.
SPEAKER_03:And that is my concern that it's a boom bust approach, uh, away from the chains that have established themselves. Uh and some of those chains are doing active business. It's the short-term hope to make a quick buck and then disappear overnight kinds of approaches that I think hurts our industry because that uh impacts all of us who are operating facilities if uh a failure takes place. There's also something to be said about how these entertainments fit into the bigger picture of the uh evolution of the location-based entertainment market. Is there a place for a new kind of mixed-use entertainment facility built around soft play, built around new wave crane machines? Our friends at UNIS feel that that is the case with the development of their emoji world uh concept, and uh they've already rolled out a number of sites uh based on that. Bright lights, strong branding, and uh a very strong customer ethos is a good thing to see in any industry and any brand operator. It's just that we also need to be mindful of the less uh competent of the uh clockade uh operators that are popping up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh all right. Well, coming up after the break, we will dive right into the trends. Intercard is the only cashless system designed, developed, and manufactured all under one roof. They introduced cashless technology to the amusement industry and have been leading the way for over 30 years. Cashless systems for Intercard increase customer spending, get satisfaction, and boost revenues by up to 30%. Intercard is so proud to be serving the amusement industry. If you are already part of a global family of customers, they hope you will become one too.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thank you, Intercart. And jumping into the economy side of uh our business and uh the impacts of the economy on the uh global market has impacts for uh businesses that uh you would have thought were a little bit more robust in these conditions. And um it was surprised to you know wake up to the news that Pizza Hut had fallen into administration. But as always, there's a lot more to the story than uh the headlines on the uh the website to be exact. It is the franchisee of the uh Pizza Hut operation uh in the UK. It is also the operation uh that has newly taken on uh control of this franchise. It's a very profitable franchise in the UK. Anyway, the uh parent company Yum, uh the Yum brands has jumped straight in, and uh, of the uh considerable number of uh facilities that they operate in the uh UK, they've managed to save about 64 of them. Sadly, 68 of those will have to go to the wall due to the way that the administration is uh taking shape. Um, there are a lot of people scratching their heads why such a successful brand and a proven uh moneymaker brand during this particular condition uh has fallen into administration. There are a lot of questions being raised about the new management team uh and the new uh owners that have uh taken control of this.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and this is a pretty remarkable number. I mean, 139 total locations DC London Pi operated, and you know, 68 of those are now permanently closed, which is also just remarkable. It's you know really sad for the employees of each of those locations as well. Um, but then you know, 64 of those uh locations to be saved by Yum brands, you know, also speaks a little bit, you know, I have to think, to the fact that if Yum brands, you know, did it depends how fast this all came together. Um, but I would think that if it did come together in enough time for them to have some sense for which sites were operating well and making money and which ones weren't, that, you know, look, if over half of your sites were subject to closure and the parent company only wants to take over 64 of the overall 139, that tells me that something was going wrong at those other 68 locations to the fact that Yum, because otherwise Yum brands would have come in and stepped in and taken over the others as well, right? Um, so they clearly thought that there was something going on there.
SPEAKER_03:They they couldn't hold their nose for those uh 68s. Now, is that the fundamental reason of why DC London Pie has had problems? Is there a franchising or a rental or uh uh a real estate issue? Are these brands being run badly? Uh, you know, the the questions just uh grow and grow, but you're quite right that if uh uh young brands has had enough time to actually salvage 68, uh then it shows that they've had enough time to also evaluate the 64 that they didn't take. And uh well, uh we will see how far this is going to go. Uh, is this gonna be one of those stories that's gonna be brushed under the carpet and moved on very quickly, or will the media feel that this is worthwhile talking about all those individuals? You know, on average, uh, you know, a Pizza Hut facility in the UK will have at least 10 members of staff, uh, uh, if not more, not including the delivery uh service component that is going to be impacted by this. All I know is dominoes must be uh rubbing their hands at the news. Moving away from the economy to the biz, and uh we've touched upon the growth of the immersive shared reality experience, and we've seen uh a new entrant throw their hat into the ring, a mixture of uh an immersive destination with an edutainment, uh, groups of 45 people put on the head-mounted display and wander around an adventure experience in a free roam environment. These are growing in popularity, this approach, though again, it is a question about do you have enough content available to you to make this more than just a one and done experience?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing I was thinking more about this, because we we did talk about this, um, we just touched on this briefly at Open and Shut on on uh the LBX show. Um, you know, where they've the the two shows, they have one that is about dinosaurs and history and that kind of thing. Then they have the horizon of Khufu. And I think the one benefit here is that they chose uh, you know, even though we've heard of Horizon of Khufu, it's not necessarily that well distributed at this point. You know, I think I have a total of eight locations, but you know, they have a separate website dedicated to the Horizon of Khufu. It's powered by Fever. And when you do choose your city, even though this particular location isn't run by Fever, you know, it's actually run by this separate company with Five Studio Montreal. Um, they have the Chicago location actually on the Fever website that takes you then to the way from the Fever site to the EXP website. So it is nice that they are getting some of that broader distribution and broader exposure. Um, and so if somebody hears about the Horizon Kufu and then wants to experience that in a different city, they at least will get that exposure through the separate Fever website in addition to their own website and their own marketing.
SPEAKER_03:Well, going into too much detail, fever has direct involvement with the content creation and the ticketing and the distribution of uh a number of these uh immersive adventure uh experiences. And so it is in their remit to promote their work, uh, even though they're not uh directly operating it. But it is something that I'm keeping a very close eye on. There are a number of companies now that are throwing their hats into the ring uh regarding immersive adventure experiences, some uh positing more of an edutainment kind of experience, some positing more of a museum style uh experience. And uh, we will just have to wait and see how much of this business can be supported by a one and done mentality or whether they're going to have to embrace more gamification. Moving on, and um, it was pointed out to me that uh our friends in China uh have also been looking at their interpretation of a Netflix house approach to the business. Um, I missed this news originally when it uh uh it broke uh back in March, but uh IKEA, uh hopefully I'm pronouncing that correctly, is the I know. Uh IKEA is the equivalent to Netflix uh in China. They uh have a streaming, video streaming service. They also have a lot of social media components, uh self-curated content as well as licensed content. And they decided to uh launch uh or break ground back in March on a uh facility. We're not sure on the exact size, but this is a multi uh unit, multi-experience environment. Not all of it is uh indoors, some of it will be outside. Uh, and it is offering a interactive experience with holographic components and amusements. Uh there's talk about mixed reality being uh deployed in this. So, you know, they've gone through the lexicon of all of the trendy immersive buzzwords from the XR department, and they've added them, you know, put them in a blender and spat out this. Uh, it looks like it is an interpretation of the uh the Wonderverse or the Netflix house kind of approach. It is again transmedia, it is a company that is uh very well known, very well positioned in media content creation in the streaming landscape, now pivoting towards having a physical representation of that brand, uh the Disney model writ large. But again, it will be interesting to see how much this facility is depending on what I would call XR technology to immerse their audiences uh compared to uh some of the other venues that we've talked about.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this very feels very much like more of a Netflix house, hopefully, than a Wonderverse. Um at least given some of the imagery that's out there. And and yes, you know, uh it's just it's concept imagery, so you know we don't really know, but it does feel more like a Netflix house than a Wonderverse, uh Sony's Wonderverse. So um, yeah, hopefully for their sake, it's closer to Netflix house.
SPEAKER_03:Well, we're hoping that all of them uh have uh created uh the right mix of entertainment that's going to warrant their existence. But again, you know, Netflix House isn't the only game in town at this moment in time. Uh and then talking about the game in town, and we've uh walked into some real difficult positions for the Disney Corporation. Uh their current chairman uh and CEO made it very clear that he saw a fantastic list of films uh about to be launched for the 2025 season. Uh and now, you know, as we come to the end of the 2020 uh 25 season, out of the six tent pole, sorry, seven tent pole films that he's released, it should be eight, but I'm not including Freaky Fridays on this list because I just do not see that as a tent pole, no matter what the media's trying to do. It was a flop anyway. But out of those six or eight, seven or eight films uh that came out, only one of those has uh generated a successful revenue return, and that's Lilo and Stitch remake. Uh, you know, the list goes on and on of all of the failings, and we've had a John Carter moment uh with um Tron Ares. So let's get this right. Tron was a flop when it first came out in the 80s. Uh, its sequel uh in the noughties and beyond came out and it was a kind of flop, and now the third incarnation of this film is a mega flop. Someone's not really reading the tea leaves here uh regarding their audience. Um I'm I'm not here to criticize the actors or the scripts or that. I'm here to criticize the green lighting process of walking into the same mess again and again. And I think as an ex-Walt Disney Imagineer, it is very close to my heart to see them making these kinds of uh rake stepping moments for themselves. Uh, and it just plows incredible pressure on the auctionarian board uh and uh leader team at the company. You know, I have been taught never to bet against James James Cameron, so we're hoping that uh the uh avatar Fire and Ash is going to at least be a positive uh in the in the profit side. Uh and I'm being told by all the usual pundits that uh Zootopia 2 will be a popular film, but if they're not, then this is an untenable situation that the corporation is finding itself in. And that may have led to the the rumblings that we're now seeing uh of the changing of a guard uh across the whole of the uh Disney operation. A common trait that we're seeing, as you'll see from some of the other companies I'm going to be pointing out, of time to change the management and get onto a little bit more of a solid footing. I'm old enough, excuse me, uh, to remember when Michael Eisner uh was a co-uh CEO of the Disney company with Frank. Um, and that kind of approach is being proposed again by uh well-placed uh investors and board members that may be the two front runners for the replacement to uh Ike uh is uh uh should be a joint partnership. That comes with swings and roundabouts. Um, but uh again, I think uh that uh faced with so many flops uh and so many black eyes for the Disney Corporation, complete change of guard and maybe a brand new approach to appease all sides of uh the aisle is needed.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think given the context you just set up about the the at least on the movie side, the flops. We know, I mean, the movie the movie side drives the theme park side as well, right? So without solid IP, solid um uh you know attention and knowledge, uh, you know, and an interest in what they're creating for the screen, both large and small, that you know, they're gonna have less traffic potentially coming into their parks as well. So you need to have both of those things working really well together. And you know, I think you know, co-CEO opportunity here, we've seen this happen now in a number of different places. We're seeing um, you know, we've we've actually just talked about this, I think, like last week or the week before, and about you know, seeing more co-CEOs pop up. This could be something that uh Disney needs to just shake up the current issues that they're seeing right now, um, you know, in in their their media, their media side of the business.
SPEAKER_03:Part of the reason or the excuse used for taking another bite out of the rotten apple of Tron was to help promote their uh brand new coaster system that has been installed in a number of parks based on the Tron uh legacy. Uh to have a major flop means that you've just hurt yourself. It's sort of like uh opening up uh a water park uh attraction in your facility and then having the film you've based it on flop. Oh, water worlds. Oh yes. Sometimes you can get away with it, but in this particular case, we need both of the transmedia operation components to work well. Uh and uh the current management has shown that they are lacking. Some would say sleeping at the switch. I'm I'm just going to say I think they've had a good run, and it's now time for some new heads under the new generational term uh to take control. But saying that, we're not alone. There are other uh corporations and investor bodies now looking at the management team uh running their uh their parks or uh their entertainment divisions and feeling that it's time uh for a change. And uh Merlin Entertainments has been uh in the Black Eye machine manufacturing mines for a period of time. Uh they're they're going through their own problems at uh C-suite level, but uh at uh operational level, they've just announced the appointment of a new CEO for their Alton Towers Park, their largest of uh the parks in their crown, as it were. Interesting pick, uh, individual uh brings a lot of energy to the position, but also is an interesting possibility that he may not get as much time uh of his feet under the table of Alton Towers before uh other developments come along uh within the parent company. And then uh we've had uh the obvious uh Knight of the Long Knives within Six Flags. They we've been talking about them a number of times uh on sound off uh regarding some unusual business decisions that they've made. Uh, we've now found out that uh the board is gone through some transitions, uh, some new blood is being brought in, uh and some of that new blood is actually coming from the investor side. So uh literally having the watchdog keeping an eye on the board to see what the hell's going on with the operation. Some of the people that are exiting, we've now got transparency to their resumes. We've suddenly found out that the people involved with the Cedar and Six Flags merger didn't come from uh a park and entertainment background, but they came from an investors and banking background, which may explain a lot of uh the issues that we've just been going through. Uh not saying that just because you come from that background, you can't uh offer uh benefits to uh a major theme park operation such as this, but this is an unwieldy monster to try and run if you're making it up as you go along. And then uh one of the latest of uh the transitions, we've got a new uh CEO uh within the Five Star Parks. We've been talking about five star parks and attractions uh during uh a couple of open and shuts regarding some of the changes that they've gone through, uh, some of the acquisitions they've made, which you know have raised an eyebrow, shall we say, and uh some of the offloading uh that they've been undertaking after that. Well, anyway, uh it'll be interesting to see uh the new CEO who's been risen uh through the ranks, who actually comes from main event. Uh it'd be interesting to see how he brings his unique style to the table.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean this one is interesting, and it is 10 brands, but they have a lot more than 10 brands, or 10 locations, right? So it's 10 brands, but I mean I think they're pushing what 50 locations now across all of their brands. Yeah, about 158, I think, if like you know, and then we also see them using some of their brands as expansion vehicles, opening up new locations. We just talked about a Craig's Cruisers recently. Um they're using the Malibu Jax brand to take over a facility and then rebrand it as a Malibu Jax. Like, you know, so they're they're leveraging now some of these brands and IP that they're beginning to create and use that to uh reshape some of the locations that they're they're targeting.
SPEAKER_03:They were, uh, but you know, a new uh a new CEO may come in uh with uh uh a brand new approach in the changing market. We will have to wait and see. It's uh um we're at that point of merger and acquisition and uh repositioning. Um you know, one of the surprise announcements that we had beginning of the week uh was uh the acquisition of uh the game box chain. Now, this is about 11 facilities in the Netherlands uh and in Germany, uh entertainment, and they've been sucked into uh Weltmerger, Veltmer, uh, who are you know they're no slaps themselves when it comes to uh facility and resort operation. And it is part of a European land grab that we've been seeing, or I've been charting for the last three years of key corporations looking at the mid-scale uh location-based entertainment, amusement resort, resort kind of business rather than the large theme park resort uh LBE approach. And I wouldn't be surprised if this acquisition will be met by an acquisition of another of uh the uh groups of entertainment facilities that are now finding themselves vulnerable to acquisition, or if you're one of the board members, uh a positive position to be in if you want to trouser some large amounts of money.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the these these guys um remind me a little bit more like of a like an FEC group. Um so uh excuse me, FEC group, FEG group. Um, I guess I'm being redundant in saying that.
SPEAKER_03:I preferred the FEC system.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but uh FEG um in that they actually operate, they have some of their own standalone locations, and they're really more arcade operators, right? So they have standalone locations, then they have locations that they operate inside of other amusement parks, so they're operators of of these and probably do RevShare with the particular locations, and then they also are the uh they run all the gaming inside of the center parks locations throughout Europe as well. So they're actually a much larger group than we even really know because again, they tend to operate these things behind the scenes. They go by names of Game Town, Game City, and Game State. So now they've acquired the game box, so it kind of fits their game concept, but this feels to me a little bit more like they're trying to make that shift into competitive socializing beyond just pure arcade players.
SPEAKER_03:They're broadening their um we've been following the Game City uh and game town brands because they've been expanding and, as you say, being deployed as entertainment offerings into other people's facilities as a secondary entertainment revenue stream. So it's an interesting land grab, and as you say, it is leading towards when are they going to be opening up their holy moly uh uh facility, uh, which we have to expect that all of these companies that are uh uh expanding their LBE and FEC uh placements are also looking at a competitive socializing and social entertainment mix to add to their bundle for diversification, all important transmedia. Talking about uh mergers, acquisitions, and partnerships, and you know, one that caught a lot of individuals uh by surprise. You know, I'm not claiming to be a genius, but uh we had seen uh our friends at Netflix and AMC uh at least toying with closer relationships. This extended to the point of a Netflix uh film series is now going to be shown in AMC cinemas for the Halloween period, uh, and they're hoping that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, as Bogie would say, where you're now able to turn around and say, we're making high-quality streaming content. Some of that streaming content will be made to a level which will be suitable for release in cinema. If you're releasing in cinema, you have three benefits. Number one, you have all of the people that are members of your uh streaming service. They're all members, they all have cards and accounts, they can be offered discounts to go to these cinemas now and use their ticketing systems, possibly to get cheaper discounted tickets, to get early access, or to get discounted merchant food. So that is guaranteeing AMC a certain number of uh uh attendance, they won't have dry periods, but from AMC's perspective, this is very important. It goes all the way back to the listing all of those lovely flops that uh Walt Disney has been dealing with. If you're AMC, you don't want flops, you don't want to have empty cinema auditoriums with no one coming to see Tron. As and I can show you video of people going to the first screenings of the new Tron and being all on there lonesome. That is a nightmare for uh the movie theatre companies that are just coming out of the chaos and confusion of uh the movie theatre industry, apocalypse and COVID. So, this kind of relationship with Netflix is the beginning of something very big and possibly that transmedia uh uh operation that I keep on talking about. Maybe next door to Netflix House, there is a Possibility of a Netflix AMC kind of high-level uh cinema stroke, entertainment stroke, refreshment uh operations some way down the road. This will start an arms race in the cinema sector towards closer relationships with streaming operations.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think the one thing that stands out to me that's interesting is the fact that uh you know you have now what is effectively a movie studio making very close ties with a particular singular movie chain, a movie theater chain. Right. So this is very unique to AMC. Um, and so you know your Cinemarks and your others and you know the others that are out there aren't going to have access to this Netflix. So great move on AMC standpoint perspective, but you know, will we begin to see other types of studios making interesting deals like this with other movie chains? So is this the beginning of a trend, or is this just a one-off, brilliant business development deal that somebody between Netflix and AMC put together here?
SPEAKER_03:I wouldn't be surprised to see other movie theater chains doing a deal with Netflix. Uh they will threaten, uh, I am sure, uh uh a little bit more uh transparency from NATO uh towards how this kind of deal warrants because no one wants to lose out on possibilities of successful films. But it opens up the nasty possibility for the Hollywood uh studio operation that one day they may wake up to the numbers in Variety and Box Office, and they one of their films will not be in the top slot uh uh regarding the best generation of box office, that it may be a Netflix spun-out series uh uh premiere or uh uh closing episode that wins uh the bums on seats. And always remember the cinema industry is not about how many bums you get on the seats, but how many of those bums are holding popcorn, soft drinks, and chocolates. You know, this is very important. And I think this is a smart move by AMC, and this could be a very big move for Netflix. As we've already touched upon, they are definitely on a roll regarding bricks and mortar press uh representation.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, coming up after the other quick break, we'll dive, we'll continue right into the trends.
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SPEAKER_03:Moving straight into the uh tech trends, and here we go. We're talking Netflix yet again, continuing their relationship with immersive entertainment based on their IP through their partnership with Sandbox VR. This is now their third partnership on an IP based uh upon their properties, and kind of gives us a snapshot to what I was uh touching upon earlier with AMC, uh, where you're using your IP to get people into a facility to try out a unique experience uh based upon that IP, uh, but in a physical uh experience. The Stranger Things uh uh franchise has proven a strong one, both in branding uh and now uh it is being applied to uh the game side, whether this game will be as successful for uh Sandbox VR as has been their Squid Games, uh the two versions of the Squid Games virtual reality experiences that they've created. We'll have to wait and see. I haven't had the chance to play this, I hope too soon. And then fundamentally, of course, it's the big question. This is just again another of the products that we can expect to be able to play when we go to Netflix house.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, this is good timing, obviously, to be releasing another Stranger Things game, right? As the Stranger Things Final Season is getting ready to come out here in the next few weeks. So good timing on their front. Uh, but also, yeah, well, Halloween is certainly as well. And timing is only as good as your marketing and awareness. So I ideally, Sandbox VR is doing what they need to in their communities where they're located and they have this particular attraction or this uh experience, and they're getting that out there, and they're doing something to do some cross-promotion to make sure that they're getting the people in the door.
SPEAKER_03:They're pushing it heavy. Um, I'm seeing uh people reviewing and talking about this in certain areas that I would not normally see people talking about location-based VR uh attractions, which makes me uh giggle to think about uh how much influence is being applied from Netflix and Sandbox to make sure that these products are now getting the due representation that they should do. Um we we will we will look forward to seeing the numbers of ticket sales that this particular product has generated. Well, I think it's a trifecta. It's good timing to have it for Halloween. It's a strong IP based uh uh on a on a popular brand, and also uh the Netflix series is uh just about to ramp up with its next iterations of this. Uh it's as if some marketing person has actually thought about this for a change. Moving uh away, and uh one of those things that I always find difficult to place uh is uh talking about the Japanese uh amusement industry trade events. You know, a couple of a couple of decades ago, I would have led uh a presentation like this with what's happening in the Japanese market, but sadly, due to what's happened in the Japanese amusement sector and their focus on the consumer side rather than the commercial side, you know, it isn't what it is. Uh but that said, they've moved their traditional show from February to uh now November, uh the beginning of November, we will see the holding of a two-day event in Tokyo under the Amusement Expo name, just so it can confuse everybody who has to also go to Amusement Expo in America, but they don't care. And we have uh representations from all of the key service providers uh and uh Japanese amusement manufacturer factories. They also have a public day on the second day, which is focused on live stage performances of music from the games and from popular brands, and Konami Sega Taito and Bandai and Namco will all be uh uh doing strutting their stuff upon the stage from their music team. A little rundown of products that are worth mentioning. Adam will be going into this in much more detail, but I just wanted to quickly touch upon it. Um, Star Horses is the you know the traditional card collector uh have your virtual stable of horses to win games. It's been very popular as a big metal game machine in Japan. It was popular in the West as a uh card collectible system uh and until various reasons meant that it just wasn't replaced anymore, even though it was still very strong. And now Sega has released a new mini version for more amusement and younger hands. Uh and uh I would be interested to see if that type of product, given the right representation, would work uh in the Western market. It is the 40th anniversary of the King of the Claw Machines. UFOs uh developed the concept which is being mirrored by the new wave uh claw machines that we were talking about earlier. And Sega is one of those instrumental in establishing the UFO catcher business. And uh there's a possibility of the latest MyMai Music Rhythm game will be at the show, with the understanding that we in the West now are starting to import uh the music uh machine. Uh Sagra Amusement International has this month uh started the process of uh selling uh the music machine, specially uh translated for the Western market, and has already seen some very strong uptake of that. Our friends of Band Dynamica will be there. They have uh jumped upon the uh IP licensing for their brands, so they have a one-piece uh both a metal machine as well as a test your strength, you know, beat them up style uh unit. Interesting approach. The concept of this uh skill strength digital machine. Now I've seen this, you know, this was first launched as a concept by Taito back in the uh late 80s. Now it keeps on popping up as the uh evergreen concept. Our friends also at Bandinamco are going to be releasing the latest in their Wagdam Midnight. Uh uh this latest version is speed ignition, uh, improved graphics, improved uh uh garage of cars to collect, and rumors uh this is being pushed very heavily in the Chinese market, and that there is even talk that uh uh it might get a Western representation, though, as uh Adam will uh attest, uh getting information from Bandai Namco America about if that's a possibility is a big no-no. And they also have a music game, uh, which we can go into a little bit more detail closer to iAlpa. Konami, they have a beat them up test your skill digital machine, uh, which they've been having on test. Super Punch Mania builds upon their uh Punch Mania original brand property. They have their music machines that they're going to be pushing at the show as well as some other titles, but they're you know they're very low-key about new products rather than pushing the established chain brands, and all of the manufacturers at the show seem to be taking on that attitude. Um, you know, our friends at X Arcadia, uh, they have uh the latest in their game series. Uh they're finding very strong following from their core audience, uh, and this is an important show for them of the year. Next after going to IALPA. And then Tato. Uh, well, they haven't even dropped their trousers yet about what they're going to be bringing to the show. It's just a coming soon logo. Uh, I'm sure they're going to wait for the very last minute, but uh we know that they have at least two uh new videos that they're going to show which uh should be of interest, but we'll have to wait for a later sound off to go into the details of that. Just to wind up, uh, and I've just completed uh a couple of stinger reports and uh a couple of uh entertainment social arenas, and the last of our social arenas touches upon an interesting area of the market, which I thought just share a little bit of uh the thought process in compiling this. The the gun game, the shooting game, has been an important part of the amusement of the carnival and the fairground market. It's you know can trace back its history from archery uh competitions uh at uh uh markets uh you know back in the 1600s. You know, we we have always seen uh test your skills through shooting uh uh being very popular. And during the 40s and 50s, uh the shooting galleries became even more popular, courtesy of uh the development of the 2-2 bullet round uh and a simple weapon operation from versus Browning to be able to shoot these forever and be robust and relatively accurate and profitable. The guns, gun shooting experience hasn't gone away, it's just that we've moved from using real bullets and real paper now to the digital move. And uh our friends Namco, before they merged with Bandai Namco, created one of their first key successes that helped them to establish themselves as an amusement company, and that was Shoot Away back in the 70s. And it was electromechanical. So you don't uh there isn't a uh a full-color projector hidden in that uh box unit at the front. It's a very simplistic projection unit moving a mechanical lens that represents the uh uh the clay as it flies through, and then through some clever calculations and using a light gun receptacle, as soon as you make a hit uh on the screen, then uh the lens flips to the broken version of the clays. It was a very simple system, very popular, used a full-size recreation of a shotgun, and was a big hit in Japan as much as it was a big hit in uh in the West and went on to sire a number of uh sequels. One of those shooting games that we're all very familiar with uh is of course Big Buck Hunter, you know, since its start in the 2000s. You know, play mechanics got it nailed in the pump action shotgun game has you know created a vast market around it, even now having Buckfest championships. I've I've sort of pointed on non-human blasting shooting games. Uh, you know, obviously the amusement industry has embraced uh the uh shoot all the zombies you can, or shoot all the uh enemy opponents you can, or shoot all the baddies, villains, the virtual cops. But really, fundamentally, from the shooting gallery to to really here with Big Buck, we're dealing with either sports shooting uh at game or animals or at clays or at targets. And that is the kind of thing that has moved on to the next level of the competitive socializing industry, where we're now at a point where that fair ground uh from the 1940s and 50s is now being brought inside. A lot more alcohol and cocktails has been added to the mix, people are now in social groups, and the competitive socializing shooting gallery experience has taken off. And I go into much more detail about not just clays. I was lucky enough to go to the opening of one of their new facilities uh recently, and we talk about you know the transition of their brand, but I also talk about some of the other companies that have also opened competitive socializing, shooting gallery uh kinds of environments that really borrow very much all of their uh application from the Carneys, but also from the amusement side. And you know, if you're going to want to go full circle from uh the creation of the shoot away machines, a standalone entertainment system, we can all jump now to our friends at Game Vault who have just launched Hotshots, which is a two-person shotgun game shooting at a large screen, though no electrical mechanicals here. This is a uh a full colour scaled projection system, supported by touch screen, so you can select your games, but also you can order food and boost. And this is the package that venues that are thinking about adding a competitive socializing element to their facilities can now also jump on and have not just a beer pong, not just to have AR darts, not just to have duck pin bowling, but they can have a shooting gallery component. And it kind of gives us a rough idea of where the technology may change. The people uh uh that are paying to play don't really change that much in what what they like or what they don't like. And going back to the uh proven favorites, such as the shooting gallery experience, seems to be a concept that is doing great great deal in our sector at the moment.
SPEAKER_01:Anything to add, Brandon, to that? No, I mean that was uh that was a great rundown. Uh, I think the only thing I'll say is you know, you're going to touch on it here. Obviously, the entertainment social arena, specifically the ones that you're talking about, are coming out actually this week. So you want to make sure to actually uh you know not just listen here, but then go and grab that entertainment social arena. If you haven't already, you can get it on lbxcollective.com and then subscribe so you get it every time a new issue comes out.
SPEAKER_03:Well, thank you for that. And of course, if uh anyone has got any corrections or any information that they'd like to pass on, contact details there, LinkedIn as well as our email. Uh and that just leaves me to say I wish you a good one. And uh let's see, uh 97 approaches now in the sound-offs. We're getting closer and closer to that magic number.
SPEAKER_01:We're getting very, very close, very, very close. So we'll have to see exactly when that lands, giving me coming right up on IAMP Expo as well. Um, but until then, it's great talking with you, Kevin. It's been a great sound off with Kevin Williams. See you on the next one. Have a good one.
