Sound Off #126 - Vibe is Key, AWE Highlights, Lane7 up, D&B down & more! Artwork

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Sound Off #126 - Vibe is Key, AWE Highlights, Lane7 up, D&B down & more!

June 23, 2026 • Brandon Willey • Season 4 • Episode 126

0:00 | 1:21:37

Welcome And The Vibe Debate

SPEAKER_03 0:01

Are you on the edge of your seat? Because we're about to start with Kevin Williams, covering today's latest trends in location-based entertainment. Brought to you by the LBX Collective, your community to connect and inspire. All right, everyone, let's buckle up.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Hey, all right. Well, welcome everybody to Sound Off with Kevin Williams. This is episode number 126 for June 23rd, 2026. Kevin, it looks like you are still in a hotel. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Uh I'm in a different hotel in a different city. Uh I'm doing fine, thank you, Brandon. And yourself?

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah, uh doing great. Yeah, just got back from where you are. So right now. Um, although when at the time of this airing, you will have been uh you will have returned.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

So there will be a different curtain back uh backdrop to me uh by the time of recording.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Perfect. All right, well, as usual, how are you going to change my mind this time?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Well, I I I threw a hand grenade meme into the uh market a couple of days ago, and uh, you know, it's uh it fragmentated very well. Thank you very much. I just really want to keep on pounding the uh the argument about you know what industry we're in. And you know, following on from a very interesting sound-off we've had, I think you may have encapsulated really what it is, which is it's the vibe coating, it's the vibe of our business. Even if you are doing uh such as our friends, as lots lots of games like to do, um, you know, they've created an off-the-shelf arcade. They made sure that it is heavily vibe, socially vibe oriented. And maybe it's uh the Riz that we need to uh establish our market as much as the entertainment that we're offering.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

I absolutely, I mean, I think something like a lot of games that has pretty much a pretty like a fairly standard mix has to rely on that energy, the vibe, the feel, the look that you're gonna have, the uh how how flashy the cocktails are potentially. And so are they gonna be Instagrammable? Like, are there places they can post things socially? I think this is where uh you know you can really differentiate yourself, differentiate yourself in a market if you are still gonna go with outdoing anything that is significantly unique or different in your attraction mix.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

If you look at this facility and you look at some of the uh more tired uh amusement approaches, it is obviously going to generate that uh audience appeal. And that's really what this meme is trying to point out. That you know, understand that we're creating an entertainment, an amusing venue rather than just going through the motions and hoping a cookie cutter will suffice.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Yeah, absolutely. All right, well, coming up after the quick break, we will dive right into the InterCard makes cashless easy with award-winning readers, self-serve kiosks, real-time reporting, and flexible guest payment options. From plate cards and credit cards to mobile payments and QR codes. Intercard has helped operators reduce cash handling, increase guest spending, and run smarter venues. Intercard is the world leader in cashless technology. If you are already part of a global family of customers, we hope you'll become one too. Visit IntercardInc.com to learn more.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Well, thank you for that.

Under-16 Social Media Bans Hit LBE

SPEAKER_00 3:51

And we jump straight into the economy. Uh trending really, uh, I think this is more social engineering than economy, but uh I was trying to work out where to put it. The UK has followed Australia in uh uh instigating uh plans for a ban of uh under 16s to have social media, you know, you uh the parent groups are celebrating, the social media operators are angry and complaining, and you know they they also can see the uh you know the blood in the water that if this is the beginning of uh people cracking down on social media, this could be the cigarette moment uh for them. But there is one thing that uh for whatever reason our industry doesn't seem to have spotted the implications that this social media blackout in the UK will have on the customer base that we're aiming for. How many of the players uh and uh the eSporters are under 16, and how many of the applications and tools, uh even the uh the marketing tools for these game experiences depends on that individual having access to a social media account. And this could be very interesting for some of the amusement pieces out there that have quite an active social media component.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

Well, and it's not just the amusement pieces. Many FECs and LBE venues have leaned heavily on social for it for advanced notice um and advanced marketing before they open, once they're open, really putting out a lot of content out there to drive that foot traffic in the door, and obviously not targeting just the parents. They're targeting all the different age demographics of which their particular venue is focused. And so this type of ban will have direct implications, especially if you see this move throughout other markets. I think it's quite some time before we see actual real legislation impact the North American market, certainly the US market, and then Canada maybe would be the next one to fall, actually, given their uh progressive nature. Um wouldn't be surprised, actually, if they follow pretty quickly after Australia and the UK, um, France as well, other parts of Europe. And so I wouldn't, you know, I think this is something we need to be aware of and begin to think about how are we going to proactively shift the type of marketing and messaging we're getting out there to target the younger age demographics.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

So let's mark a uh a line in the sand, as it were. This is the 23rd of June uh 2026. How long before one of the European or UK trade, amusement trade uh publications actually works out that this is a problem?

SPEAKER_01 6:49

Oh, I'm not gonna hold my breath.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Well, uh we know one of those publications does follow uh sound off, and so I say hello, just quote us if you're going to run a story on that, okay? Moving on, and uh I really do need to uh get uh our friends at Microsoft in a room with a baseball bat, but that should be postponed.

Saudi Expo Delay And Industry Fallout

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Uh but obviously our friends uh at PowerPoint doesn't like uh our Steam. I apologize.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

You mean it's not postponed N plus?

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, I know it's it's having fun there, but uh what has postpond.et or whatever is the uh C facility, uh C event, the Saudi uh Entertainment and Attraction Expo that had already postponed its uh planned uh May uh events to uh move to August. I had raised an eyebrow saying if the Middle East conflict was still going, I didn't believe that. Well, they've bit the bullet uh and they have now moved the Saudi event to June uh of uh 2027. And I can tell you now that there is financial implication with that double postponement. There is questions being asked by the uh about the competence of the organization team that they couldn't see uh you know what uh the tea leaves uh uh that they were not going to be able to just move it to August and hope everything was going to get better. This also has implications of the knock-on effect for the new Dubai show that is taking place in January, February, uh, as well as the the you know, the big 80-pound gorilla in the room, the IALPA plans for their um read event. This will cause a serious crash, then I am thinking that C may have made themselves irrelevant by their uh procrastination, really.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

This is a big, this is a relatively big issue. You know, pretty sure we have to go back and double check, but it called that this would uh should not have been postponed. It should have been, well, and I know there's certain reasons for using the language of postponement versus canceling this year, postponing to next year when it comes to reservations and exhibit halls, et cetera. So if it's postponed versus canceled, et cetera, there's you know fees and so I understand the reason for the language, but having only pushed it out a few months was ill-conceived, especially when its counterparts had decided to push out while late, right? IAPA decided to do theirs too late. Uh, they did postpone it for an entire year, and they really see should have done the same thing. Having been on the MS side for many, many years, manufacturing supplier side, this type of hurky jerky issues are really painful. There's no question that already flights would have been rescheduled for August, and now they're having to be and and lodging and everything else, and now and logistics of shipping and everything else, all that stuff has already been done, and now it's going to be redone again at a great cost to manufactured suppliers. And they may question: should we even bother going to this expo next year and not just go to the others?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

That's the most important part from a consultancy point of view. We would never say herky jerky American phrase, uh knee uh knee twitch action from a UK point of view, where uh I think that they were ill-advised. If they were advised, if they made that decision internally, then they put themselves at a very bad position because they've lost goodwill. And losing that goodwill, especially in a climate where no matter how quickly uh possible um peace talks will uh prove uh you know productive, you shouldn't be looking at 2026 as a viable period to do anything. Uh and they're going to pay the price. I think we will be saying something else about C in a couple of months, but again, I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. Looking

Leadership Shifts Across LBE Brands

SPEAKER_00 10:59

at the biz, and uh I'm gonna have to seriously think about adding a section to sound off for new jobs. C-suite changes are plenty. Let's try and zip through these. Lucky strikes again. Uh, now we have uh Bobby jumping into the chief financial officer role. Um he joined the company in uh 2023, and it's interesting that um, you know, from my point of view, uh, I can't really see uh uh an entertainment uh background uh that he's coming to, but I can see that there's been a lot of changes and uh musical chairs within the C-suite at uh Lucky Strikes Entertainment.

SPEAKER_01 11:44

I think what this signals is the fact that while he did join the company in 2023 as a CFO and treasurer, the fact that he's being promoted to the role of president and still CFO, right? So he's still obtaining a CFO title, but he's moving from treasurer to president at the board level. This does tell me that uh, you know, potentially it's a signal that he's being groomed to take over eventually as uh CEO of Lucky Strike. And so given the fact that he does lack entertainment experience, uh, I do hope that he's been learning and gaining as much as possible about the entertainment industry beyond just focusing on the financials.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

It is obvious from a corporate point of view, you're not going to find a perfect individual off the available job list uh that will be able to understand the five brands that you have. It is something that you're going to try and grow internally and you're going to throw as much weight upon this individual so they hopefully will either sink or swim. And three years in is a short period of time, five brands to take on, and also to have the position of uh CFO uh and you know, just uh presidential uh roles. It's a daunting charm, uh, but it's a great opportunity. Moving on, and uh uh our friends uh FEG are in the uh uh uh hiring again. Um our friends here uh you know, Jason has been with them for a period of time, but he's uh he also has uh credentials from Potts uh Shack um as CFO there. Um he he also comes from uh a restaurant experience with both McDonald's uh and uh the Dixie's uh barbecue chain. I I'm not familiar with the Dixie's chain. Obviously, I'm familiar with McDonald's, uh, but it will be interesting to see how uh you know how his hospitality skills as well as his uh uh uh social entertainment skills are going to help in the CFO position.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

Uh I'm very familiar with Dicky's barbecue. It's one of my favorite barbecue spots uh in in the US, and so uh, but it is a franchise chain as well as McDonald's, and so you know I think he it's interesting that even though he's got a lot of franchise experience and and and hospitality experience, less on the entertainment side. I find what's more interesting is uh, and and maybe it's a red flag, maybe it's not for FEG, certainly would be something I would have teased out is that he spent one year at Dickies, one year at Put Shack, and now he's at FEG. And I always get a little bit concerned when I see that type of short tenure back to back to back at a high level. Um, it's either a really great recruiters that are that are you know moving him through one place to the next. Um, but it is something that uh I would be a little bit uh you know concerned about if I were FEG.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

Seven years with McDonald's and then 12 month, 10 years with uh the other companies. Uh he either knows a really good recruiter, or as you say, it's something that we're gonna keep an eye on. Uh we were talking um, you know, about Jonathan leaving uh F1 Arcade and the chaos and confusion. Then he was stating that he was going to become a long-term advisor for franchise operations. Uh, and now uh we see him parachuted into a position that I have never come across before, which uh either shows my naivety uh in uh in C-suite positioning, uh, but it does show that my typing skills are uh are not fantastic. He's joining as a fractional CFO supporting finances, legal, commercial, and fundraising. Fractional. Uh I actually had to go and look what up uh in UK law, what fractional is. And then I suddenly worked out that obviously no strings is more focused on the US market. So this is more of a uh a positioning. What it really means is that uh no strings, which is kind of uh a rent by the hour uh paddle ball uh turnkey system, i.e., there's nothing there, everything is run by app, you buy your snacks by app, you open your locker by app, and these are you know warehousing. This is the periphery of Sporttainment for me, and it is getting very close to pickleball, so I am even less warmed to it. But it is an interesting departure from his previous role in uh competitive socializing.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Well, yeah, I mean, paddleball is uh in or paddleball, excuse me, paddle um is very similar, at least in some ways, to pickleball as it relates to these types of venues. Some the gameplay is different, the the equipment is different, so I'm not trying to make that direct comparison, but the type of venue is the same. And the one difference that No Strings is trying to do is bring some gamified elements to the to the game, so automatic scoring, et cetera, that you don't have to worry about that. You can focus on the play in the game. Um, they are partnered with Lucra as well, which is interesting. So Lucra is uh for those we've talked about Lucre before on the show, it is uh it is a it's like sort of like micro betting app that you can then integrate into your experience. David Busters has uh has played around with Lucra before in their venues, as have a few others that we've spoken about. So uh, you know, it would be interesting to see where those strings go. They, I don't believe, have actually launched any physical facilities yet, or if they have, um they are not uh rendering on Google very well at all because it's very hard to get any actual information about what these guys are doing and where they at they are at in their process.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

They uh from the information that I have from the press releases and from their corporate site is that they want to be the glue uh for existing facilities. So they want to acquire a number of facilities that will continue under their brand, but they will be powered by no strings. And they're starting uh an acquisition spree in North America that will then move over to Europe, and in their corporate speak, they they want to be the top golf or flight club experience for paddle. Watch this space, but again, uh it's paddle ball, so maybe I won't be watching this space as closely as I would normally. Moving on, and um Rec House uh has one facility open. Um they are just about to start trying to franchise heavily their hospitality social entertainment mix, more restaurant uh with some entertainment, and uh they've just appointed a brand new general manager for their first facility that is opened, uh, an individual with 20 years background with uh Dave and Busters and 11 uh years with uh another with a restaurant chain. Uh Ed, uh I haven't had the pleasure of meeting, I think, but it will be interesting to see if the skill set that he's bringing to the operation will help uh accelerate their rollout plans.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Uh yeah, I mean look, he's probably the right kind of guy to come in and lead this lead this facility, right? As a as a general manager. Um comes with a lot of uh many-year background at Dave and Busters, so right in the wheelhouse. So you know, congrats to him. It's you know cool that he gets to go and play with something new. Uh the Rec House has done some interesting things with regards to the retraction mix, yeah, their entertainment mix, and uh in their overall look and feel. So um, you know, see how see how that goes.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Activate, we keep on talking about activate uh and new franchise facilities. Uh and we I was not aware that they really didn't have a chief technology officer. They actually had their CEO doing a lot of uh uh of that kind of role. And as we've been talking about with Activate, they've had some C-suite changes, and we see Scott now um, you know, uh standing up to the challenges of addressing uh the next phase of Activate's uh technology mix. Because remember, you know, this this operation, even though they have 71 facilities out there, they are not, they haven't really gone back and changed any of those uh entertainment experiences. The ultimate of cookie cutter, as it were. And Scott comes with uh eight years tenure at top golf, he also has two years tenure at main event, uh, as well as uh some other uh experiences in the market. I really feel that he's got a poison chalice because if you're gonna start changing activate uh to be able to compete with the other active entertainment facilities or social entertainment facilities that have uh what I would call active entertainment social components to it, you're gonna have to really think out of the box.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Well, and that's where I really wonder is he coming in to develop the games, um, or is he coming in to potentially unify the gaming, the the management of the game experience? So, for example, understanding downtime for certain things, unifying the tracking of each of their different components and when one facility is down, knowing it's down in advance. And so, like, you know, basically putting those types of monitoring monitoring systems and unifying their technology stack across their locations. Um, it seems a little bit crazy to me that they're only now bringing on a CTO at 71 facilities. But you know, better late than never that they're doing this. Um, and my guess is that he's going to be working more closely with whoever is developing. The products on the creative side to make sure that they are sustainable and they can be managing them across a large number of locations in a unified way.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

I understand what you're saying. I agree that it is needed. This is something that should have happened three years ago with the operation. And it would be putting a band-aid on a broken leg if you're just now catching up to this, because by the time you've got this automated system in place and you've sorted out those aspects that uh you you outlined so clearly, it you still have the same problem that I am trying to address right now, which is you're looking tired. Right. Totally agree. Moving on, and Conducta has really been shaking up its operation. They're adding new blood, very young, new blood, very forward-thinking. You know, they have their operation uh uh you know split into two groups. Uh you know, their game loft operation, I feel, is kind of difficult to nail down exactly where Conductor ends and uh Game Loft starts. But either way, we're now seeing a new strategic partnership manager being uh dropped in as uh through David, and Maki uh is coming in as an executive producer, so that is the sorting out your franchise and sorting out your game development, if I you know want to be crude. And both of them come from uh some interesting backgrounds. I was uh you know Markey uh coming in with uh experience from Holoviz was interesting for me, you know, doing three years with those and then uh a period of time with Scruffy Dogs, as well as uh Universal uh Creative Experience kind of is the perfect fit for a cre uh you know an executive producer uh coming in at this point in time. We know that uh conductor are working on a lot of new game concepts uh as well as their own facility concept. Uh and so we uh I expect the dream team that they're putting together will be driving this.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

They're working on like 750 different concepts. So they are uh very um very dispersed as far as their focus, not only obviously for the products on the game vault line, their own facilities, they've got their glow court, uh, which you know I don't think falls even under their game vault line. They've got their new Midway system, as well as then all the custom work that they do for the other leisure and cruise industries. And so um it'll be interesting to see where Dave ends up putting the majority of his time as the new strategic partnership manager, given the breadth of things that conductor is involved in.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

For the sake of some consult uh uh transparency, I've had some close links with the conductor guys. Uh, it is a very uh family kind of orientation to the management style there. And I think they uh they now know that they need to get a little bit more management. Uh uh, those cats need to be wrangled a little bit. Moving on, and surprise, surprise, immersive Game Box uh has uh added to their C-suite. Uh Kitts comes from uh an interesting background, uh as in I don't really see uh him coming from an entertainment background, but much more from a global or business growth position. He is in his earlier years, uh he's worked with the UK uh government and the home office, but then he's uh you know kind of uh worked with uh strategic growth. He then joined uh uh immersive game box uh and now has been promoted uh to the position of uh vice president or senior vice president of strategic insight and delivery. Remember that our friends at Immersive Game Box has pivoted from their original dreams of running single standalone entertainment units to now parachuting in their attraction into existing venues, to now developing their own standalone amusement style self-operated product that will need some strategic planning. I hope that Kit has done the research into where this new machine is going to have to live. As we touched upon in a previous sound-off about the number of what I like to call immersive uh enclosure systems there are in the market.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, I would love to see some fresh blood coming in at the senior level, but at the same time, he is clearly uh proven his ability, his leadership ability. And um, so you know, congrats to him. Um and I, you know, I hope they can figure out uh sooner than later their correct model going forward.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

After you know, after their administration problems, which they have uh received investment to get out of, I think you usually see corporations like this try and keep as many of the original C-suite and then start just uh promoting them uh if they survived. We will see. Uh immersive game box is on my radar for a number of reasons, especially the high price they have to pay for IP. And we we will need to see how that uh works itself out. And

Boom Battle Bar Dubai Shutdown

SPEAKER_00 27:27

then we touched upon this in a previous open and shut, the surprise news from Dubai, that um our friends at Boom Battle Bar had closed their facility there. You know, the caveats are that Boom Battle Bar had reported a couple of sound-offs ago that they had seen a same-site drop in revenue, and that they had admitted that they were going to be wielding the red pen. And I think the red pen turned up at the Dubai site. They looked at their profits and losses, looked at where it was as a venue, and also the difficulty of operating within this region at the moment, and uh sadly uh the facility's gone, and it was a real surprise uh disappearance.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Yeah, I mean, I I commented on this in in open and shut in the LBX show a couple of days ago, but this is uh both, you know, I find it almost surprising, but also maybe not surprising given its location, is inside of a double tree by Hilton in Dubai, um, one of like 1700 hotels in Dubai, you know, and so the location itself was you know not unique or stand out. And I think these types of locations that are inside of hotels both have the benefit of drawing from a captive audience, uh, but also have the downside of sometimes just not being attended by the public outside of the hotel. They just feel reluctant to go into a hotel location, especially if there's not a second or separate entrance to the to the outside. So anyway, um I, you know, we don't know why this closed down. We don't know if it was a close partnership in the first place with Double Tree by Hilton or that particular franchisee who's running that Double Tree. Uh, but uh, you know, it is both, again, unsurprising and a little bit surprising that uh a place in Dubai like this, uh, that's been eating these places up, uh, and has uh you know not found a market for it.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

I've been doing a lot of research into the UAE market for a particular project, and uh I can tell you now that Boom Battle Bar approach differed quite considerably from uh how most of the region liked its competitive socializing. Um and I would argue that that may also be reflected in why Boom Battle Bar has been seen, a little bit of a drop uh in its sales. There are a lot of unknowns here, and hopefully we'll get a little bit more transparency uh as as time moves on. I would have normally said, well, when we're out there for the uh Dubai show, but uh again, we will we'll have to put a pin in this one. A lot of surprise here.

Dollywood Eyes Mini Golf And Arcade

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Um the company behind uh some of uh the Dolly Parton uh restaurant operations, uh they they do a uh medieval um kind of dining experience. Uh the company World Choice Investment has been involved with that side. Not really what we would call location-based entertainment, uh, but more uh uh experiential dining, I think, would be a better. And then suddenly, surprise, surprise, we wake up to the word arcade on the lips of uh World Choice Investments. They have gone to the local council uh in Florida with a proposal to create a mini golf karting and arcade facility that will be under the Dolly Wood brand. And I am sort of pointing this out. Uh, I know some media outlets have suddenly cottoned onto this uh uh uh news statement after the local media uh in uh in the area ran this story, uh, and this very weird picture of the artist's in impression of what the arcade will be. Uh, I can tell you now that the word arcade won't be uh stuck on the front of that building, but something else. This is that Netflix house moment for the uh Dollywood proper IP, and uh this is going to be a very interesting one to watch.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

It will be interesting to see how much of the Dollywood or Dolly Pardons touch is transposed or translated to this. It is a Panama City Beach, Florida versus uh you know, versus a uh central US uh feel. So, you know, definitely going to have to be slightly different just given the types of architecture that's down there. But I do wonder how much of that influence is going to carry forward into this location. Um, not surprising at some level that uh there or you know, her organization feels the need to dip its toe into the LBE space. Um, but it is interesting the attractions that she's chosen to go with, especially given the fact that there are other competitors with this mix in that very area.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

With Stone Throw.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Exactly, right? I mean, that is uh, and so you know the virtual adventure site is interesting, the whatever a virtual adventure is, I don't know. That's definitely not a term that we've used historically in the LBE space. So uh maybe that is something of their own creation, or they're just again not as familiar with LBE and so struggling to call out what the what the attraction actually is.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Who is driving this? Is this Dollywood, Dolly Parton uh holdings, or is this our friends at World Choice Investment using their leverage in association with uh the uh Dollywood and uh Dolly Parton estate towards doing this? Again, we're surmising off very little uh information, and we should have a lot more information closer to uh ILPA time in November.

Lane7 Growth And Dave And Buster’s Slide

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Moving on, and lane seven, you know, turns around and they give us uh their numbers. Uh they reveal happily that uh they've seen a like-for-like uh rise in uh their sales by 9%. Um they also you know are very positive with uh the revenue that they've been bringing in uh for the same period. They feel that they're on a positive trajectory, and we know uh from previous reportings in Sound Off that Lane 7 and their other brands are on a rollout. We were talking only a matter of weeks ago about their Berlin facility opening, and uh we will also be talking about their lane X uh facilities in coming open and charts.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

That's a significant increase in sales year for year, especially when we're seeing so many venues, uh especially tired brands, seeing a decline in year-very year sales. Uh, the one that's the one question is uh, and so you might know this, uh, is you know, this just the lane seven branded venues, or is this lane seven itself and a mix of all the venues under that lane seven uh you know, parent corporation, uh, you know, similar to the way Dave and Buster's like quietly blends in the main event uh numbers into their overall reporting?

SPEAKER_00 34:48

First question I asked when the uh financials dropped, first question that was ignored. So they haven't told us. Um we know that there's going to be an uh uh opening event in London for one of their properties. I'm hoping to uh pigeon uh uh buttonhole one of uh the executives and try and get a straight answer. But I my feeling is I think they've roped all of their properties under this financial report. Moving on, and the big news carrying on from what we were touching upon in a previous uh open and sharp, that uh 80-pound gorilla in the room regarding Dave and Buster's current openings in Texas and India is really uh, no matter how quickly you are opening new facilities, is there something rotten in the House of Denmark? And we wake up to the information now, the third uh reporting under the new C-suite management, under the back to basics, under all of this uh throwing the previous management team under the bus and everything's going to be fantastic and hunky-dory. We are looking at a decrease, 1.5% uh for uh from the same period in their same store sales, which is their same store sale operational number is down by 5%. And you know, you if you look closely at these numbers, I am not seeing an improvement. I am I am not seeing the super tanker turning one jot. And they have made some serious changes back to basics, they've dropped projects that have been started by the previous management, they have done unusual deals to try and uh, you know, this year they're claiming that they're going to have 10 brand new IP amusement pieces under exclusives. We talked about the John Wicks game and the uh Stranger Thing games being dropped in as exclusives, and you would have expected at least if these processes were achieving anything, that you would be seeing maybe not a total writing of the super tanker direction, but at least a positivity upwards from previous debt, not a continuation downwards. And the investment community is a very harsh one, you know, and they will be looking at this as well as understanding that these numbers also include main events in whatever way we can uh we have to surmise, because they won't be honest about revealing that. We have already touched upon an exodus of uh uh C-suite positions, but we can also reveal the other positions that weren't uh sackings, but people feeling that it's time to jump off this merry-go round. Dave and Busters is a problem, child, and it's about time our industry admits this.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

Yeah, this is a problem. I mean, uh it it's in some level it's unsurprising, but at another level it's uh uh it's it's certainly disappointing. And the they need to fix their core offering. There's something fundamentally broken about what they are offering. Um, and uh, you know, but at the same time, I actually will also say that their marketing is absolutely fucking terrible. So they have, I don't know the last time they've refreshed their website, uh, first of all, the marketing pieces available that are being distributed on social, that are available on their site, the promotions they're running are poorly marketed. Even when they get a new exclusive arcade piece with some expensive IP that they probably spent a lot of money to gain that exclusivity, they have done a poor job marketing. So who, you know, I don't know right offhand who their CMO is or who's driving their marketing um internally, but that is one of the main places to find this new uh C-suite would be focused on is really enhancing and improving their marketing, their messaging, and their promotions. Something needs to turn around in addition to their core offering.

SPEAKER_00 39:04

Who's their strategic director? Yeah. The you you're you're right, 100%. I cannot use their website, it is not functional for terrible anything. And I I just hate the idea of if I was uh doing a birthday party trying to utilize it. There are serious problems that any industry consultant can see for the sake of transparency. Many, many years ago, under two previous uh oh god, C-suites ago, I actually did some uh observational market research for Dave and Busters that was uh influential in driving the structure, which sadly uh our friends in the current management team seem to have founded with. I will just say this the last sound off we made the the bold statement about it's about the entertainment stupid. And uh I would argue that that building that says eat, drink, play, and watch, they'd better look at their play uh and do a lot less of their watch. But again, you can't carry on on this trajectory without implications, and uh, I wouldn't be surprised of another C-suite change or something even more drastic being forced upon them by their uh investment team. Moving on, and we had some information.

UK Pipeline Data And Franchise Reality

SPEAKER_00 40:28

It was nice when um you know market intelligence operations, you know, consultancies, market intelligence operations try and sell their marketing wares, so they you know they'll give you a little bit of sniff of the uh the skirt, as it were, and they'll share some of their data with you. Um so they, you know, uh JLL are known in the market as a relatively reliable firm for collecting market intelligence, and they surprise, surprise, are including location-based entertainment as a trend worth watching. Uh, obviously, they read their Stinger report and follow their sound off. But I was interested from the numbers that they prepared to share for what's happening in the UK market, that they were saying this year they they had calculated that there'd been 721 plans over the year to open new facilities. And they gave a percentage breakdown of those 721. Uh, the largest percentage was trampoline part. I would argue that they're active entertainment part, but JLL are not specialists in location-based entertainment, and so they they're calling them what they see them as. They then said uh family entertainment centers was next as the big slice, then competitive socializing. It was interesting to see that they had roped in competitive socializing into how they were uh defining location-based entertainment, then escape rooms. I know their number is wrong if they've roped in escape rooms into that number. There are a lot more uh planned for 20, well, opened and planned for uh this particular uh calendar year than uh would match these numbers, though maybe they have a specific definition of what they mean by uh escape and challenge rooms. Would they include activate, shall we say, in that kind of calculation? And then we have the art installations and selfie museums. Yeah, well, selfie museums are usually lost leaders as uh space fillers by malls, so I find it very interesting that you would include that in LBE. I know I'm being picky, but that's my job. Uh, and then there are others, I don't have a definition of what they put into others. So this is not really a snapshot of detail, but just uh the bare bones uh um light beer, to use an English expression of what we already have revealed through our open and shots. The bloody hell, there's a lot of openings going on.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

So, a couple of things I'll call out here. One is that I find it interesting at how big of a slice competitive socializing is taken out of the family entertainment center market, um, given the fact that five years ago, it's very likely JLL would not have even included this or it would have been in the other category. Um, you know, maybe seven years ago, but I would really argue like post-pandemic, um, this is when they probably began to really track the competitive socializing space. Um, and then when you look at the trampoline parks and kids zones at 60% of the projected openings, the problem with this number is that this is also uh falls in the franchises sold. So the trampoline park adventure park space is heavily franchised. So they're not independent locations being developed. And a franchise promotes and announces how many locations they have under development alongside of how many locations they have. actually have open so just a couple of quick numbers I ran while you were talking Slick City has 100 franchise territories sold but only 38 are actively or actually uh you know open or active in development so there's another there's 62 right there out of the gate urban air famously promotes continually promotes that over 400 locations active or under development well 178 of those are franchise locations under development in its pipeline so right there we've got about 250 of those 721 locations in development or planned to open just out of two brands and so while that number is significant you also know that it's a lot easier for me to go and buy an urban air franchise location and say I'm gonna have I'm gonna option my two years by putting $30,000 down or whatever that number is um putting $30,000 down I'm now optioned by two years to open up a location and now that goes into one of these planned locations and that may never ever get that may never actually get built. So that's uh I think a little bit of a misnomer on the trampoline parks and kid zone size that JL maybe isn't taking into consideration.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

And if the if we're a bit iffy about their trampoline and kid zone data then we can be a little bit iffy about some of their other data again this is not a detailed snapshot but it gives us uh a little bit of observation yeah I I would you know as one that sits on a database uh an international database that looks very closely at this I I can pull the data out and give a reasonable uh approach to this we could go away using the uh the KWP database and do something like this where I would be willing to stand up against a wall uh and answer towards the uh validity of this but really market intelligence operations compared to consultancies have a different target of what they're trying to achieve and I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of the data for this particular survey came from our shopping mall friends.

Microsoft And Ubisoft Resets Reach LBE

SPEAKER_00 46:04

But anyway moving on and uh the impacts that indirectly or directly hurt us in location-based entertainment uh we have a war going on at the moment uh at we've reported on previously in Sound Off about the C-suite changes at Microsoft or in particular their console game division and the new CEO that has taken up the position has decided to kick all the tables over uh massive layoffs uh and throwing around the magic word reset and many uh observers in the consumer gains market think that this is a reflection towards Microsoft pulling themselves out of the hardware console business and put and doubling down on their uh games as a service aspirations where you will be downloading everything your Xbox will be an Xbox pass rather than an Xbox console sitting in the venue. And that was double down when the new CEO said that they didn't see Sony or Nintendo as their competition for the future but they uh looked at Tencent uh and the larger uh publishing empires as the people that they're going up but you know I I made a a jokey meme at the time that quoted Yoda saying uh you know the commencement of the uh console wars has begun but really the the joke is here that if Microsoft pulls out of the console market and doubles down on an online constantly connected gaming development approach how long before Sony and Nintendo follow them well that'd be interesting um I would be very surprised that Nintendo ever moves away entirely from the console uh entirely away from the console space uh but this is an interesting uh uh move by Microsoft uh but also uh not not an entirely unsurprising move given Microsoft's overall focus and shift on uh the cloud and on providing a platform for both developers uh both commercial software enterprise grade software as well as on the game development side and so you know focusing more on being a delivery of services and platformer versus a console maker they're num they are number three in the console wars what do you do uh do you come up with a better uh mousetrap and uh drop your prices and fight the competition or do you get in a uh hot rod CEO that wants to turn all the tables over and change the fight um towards uh going for the content uh and the online I will point uh you know observers of Microsoft to the last time they parachuted in a fire brand CEO uh that totally turned all the tables over on their previous console generation and he did such a bad job of it that they uh sacked him in a matter of weeks after he announced the uh the brand new console system being more about playing uh TV programs and sports than playing games. Again the new CEO comes from a background of content rather than consoles and we will wait to see the impact for us in location based entertainment is that Microsoft is also wanting to become a transmedia brand and a lot of those game properties will find their ways uh into our facilities directly or indirectly moving on and another uh console company or game publisher really 100% our friends at Ubisoft be going through a very tempestuous time with internal difficulties uh management structure as well as trying to sort out creating good games it's all about the games as it says at the beginning of uh a number of these uh sound offs anyway ubisoft's turned around and they've uh closed two of their studios and dumped about 300 of their uh staff that has direct implications to us i i know that some of those individuals had been involved in development of uh location based entertainment properties uh projects those projects had finished and were released and i i assume that the ubisoft uh accounting team worked out that they were surplus to requirements that said it will also change ubisoft's positioning towards transmedia representations as in they'll have to relearn those relationships that they had previously yeah indeed jumping on and the uh the other 80 pound gorilla in the room that no one wanted to talk about um at time of recording uh we had uh just reported funny enough I've just finished the coverage in the Stinger report and I think by the the time of uh we recording this it might already be uh in the inboxes of uh our audience either way we did a very extensive uh report from IALPA Asia uh that took place uh only a matter of weeks ago we covered the trends though pointing out that we'd just come from the AAA expo where everything was there and then coming you know we didn't personally go our sources did go all the way to Hong Kong just literally down the road from Galaon uh and uh you know there wasn't there wasn't that much new there and it was reflected in the attendance um it's incredible to see a 25% drop in an Asian uh exhibition especially one run by IALPA you can't you can't just brush this under the uh the carpet and say it's due to the global conditions or the you know the Middle East conflict or you know uh you know general apathy in the market this is a serious individuals voting with their feet not to travel to Hong Kong uh even though the Chinese market is very important and it may explain why we saw so many executives at the AAA expo um that we didn't normally see there. Anyway, uh I asked nicely uh of the IALPA team who sent me the press release and all of that if they had an opinion about the 25% drop in their attendance at the Asian event and uh this time I haven't received a reply by I'm sure I'm in the spam filter or they're incredibly busy getting ready for next year's event which is now taking place in Osaka in Japan and interestingly a little bit earlier uh in the uh uh the calendar compared to um the the previous uh uh Hong Kong event uh will I be jumping from Garjon to go to Osaka no i i i you know it would be very difficult for me to find a reason other than a direct client request for us to go to uh IALPA uh Asia in Japan uh when it was uh in China yes we understand Vietnam and Bangkok and all of this a little bit difficult soccer's not going to be cheap it's not gonna be cheap and uh I I will be interested to see will we see another drop in attendance as people have to vote with their their feet regarding being able to attend this or will our friends at uh IALPA pull all their strings out uh call in all of their favors and ensure that the Japan event is a stupendous success to cement their Asian position yeah there's they've got some some some explaining to do I guess here um don't really know obviously why we saw such a big decline uh but this is a big deal especially when the triple A expo was so well attended uh by both exhibitors and attendees uh to have this type of uh this type of decline in one year is significant and you know frankly if they don't turn it around next year in Osaka then this show you know may be questionable it's not one that IAPA can necessarily give up especially given the fact that they've they've launched what is you know basically two new expos in Latin America and in the UAE um or the MUNA region but uh at the same time it's a really expensive show on the manufacturer supplier side to go and attend and uh you know they if you don't get the attendees as we were talking about AWE while we were at AWE if you don't get attendees then you don't get exhibitors if you don't get exhibitors then you don't get attendees and it can very quickly decline uh and that's not something I'm sure IAPA has a desire to do and so I'm sure there'll be some significant changes for next year.

IAAPA Asia Attendance Drop Questions

SPEAKER_00 55:29

I would observe that if Japan didn't work they would revert to a um summit kind of approach and move away that that's the benefit of how they have created their nonprofit exhibition operation which is if expos don't work then we turn them into summits if summits don't work then we turn them into special uh by yearly uh events in certain regions as fact finding you know there are a number of uh IALPA fact finding missions going on at the moment which aren't exhibitions but are seminars in disguise this was a surprising one that 80 pound gorilla that is the IALPA Association forced a lot of media not to focus on uh this particular story but us suicidal individuals in the Stinger report thought we'd bring this to our audience's attention moving on and uh a little bit of IP and a little bit of tech uh things that did emerge from the uh Ialparasia event was uh our friends at Brogen jumping into a very interesting partnership uh with Toho, the people behind the Godzilla universe and they have created a flying coaster or flying theater attraction based upon Godzilla I've seen the the trailer as well as a little bit of the show reel for it and I really want to get on this uh flying theater and have a go at it it's got some really interesting perspective effects Brogen really flexing their um flying theatre jobs here yeah uh totally agree would love to hop on this thing uh maybe we'll have to go to the uh Japan um IL for expo to get us yeah maybe um again um you know stretching yourself and uh coming up with new content is important I motion the remaining uh of the Western 9D uh pod VR experiences uh the company has pivoted very heavily into zoological and aquarium business and they have two pieces of content that really lead on that STEM kind of uh content their uh solar systems uh planet uh exploration obvious uh and their dinosaur equally obvious uh they already have the bottom of the sea uh experiences these just talk straight to the museum aquarium and science center market yeah I mean these are classic science center aquarium museum uh attractions and you know if they're gonna keep banging them out especially their relationship with uh SeaWorld and Merlin uh I'm sure they they want to have a diverse I would argue that they should have had more content out by now but they're catching up and so we are here um this this was one that popped up on my radar courtesy of analytics at uh LinkedIn sort of saying this will be of interest to you this isn't the first time that the analytics machine has actually proven useful for um sound off and the stinger report but uh a company I'd never heard of Fantail Games uh they released a mixed reality experience which I would argue kind of falls into the remit that our friends at Dream Park are trying to play with it's using um you know from their information they're using off-the-shelf Quest threes in mixed reality mode and offering team playing game mixed reality experiences the video makes them look very interesting they've never appeared on my radar I am going to try and reach out to the company to see if they know anything about the location based entertainment industry or if they are just one of those many uh quest developers that has now worked out that they're not going to be selling their content as a uh consumer product but they're going to pivot into an industry that may be able to use their content such as LBE.

Mixed Reality New Venues And Ticketing Upset

SPEAKER_01 59:42

It will be interesting in on their site they uh it is definitely like primarily focused in home um however they do mention that it's a flexible play space set up your games almost anywhere play in the living room a bedroom or the home office or even in a huge or even in a huge game room and so I think this is where they're beginning to maybe recognize the fact that this could be deployed in a birthday party room or in an open space inside of a family entertainment center or location based entertainment venue.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:12

So it will be interesting to uh you know if you can get connected with these guys to find out what their plans are and that kind of uh is what we're going to talk about a little bit more uh about you know companies pivoting towards location based entertainment when we talk briefly about AWE one of those company uh new facility openings that we touched upon in Open and Shart was the new Polish Park um which you know hypermedia is an interesting term to use in your facility branding especially for an emerging market like Poland but you know here we have an indoor destination that is doubling down on blending uh immersive entertainment and attractions um not just via uh uh arena experiences but projection mapped and even an attraction developed by our friends at attraction um this this is an interesting uh site just on on the paper that I that I would like to walk around and uh see how they've applied themselves and it may be the right uh product for the right audience because there is nothing like this in this region. Well yeah I mean nothing like it in its region and it's you know it is completely custom built I mean it is from ground up greenfield and uh really really unique and we were talking a little bit in one of the panels uh last week at AWE or one of the roundtables about the integration of AI into these types of immersive experiences as well to drive personalized experiences to drive unique return visitation and uh it'd be really interesting to see um that uh to see how that's deployed here alongside their immersive media and their motion-based attractions and how they've really integrated AI into this or is it uh just a buzzword that isn't been fully deeply integrated yet into the overall guest experience yeah their their web page makes some serious claims about you know what they're trying to do here I would argue that the person the general manager the curator manager is going to have the hardest job in the world because you're not gonna be able to sit on your laurels you're gonna have to be constantly reinventing the experiences available here because no matter what what you say uh this is not a one and done you really do need to see a repeat visitation or else in uh 24 months we'll be talking about a project that is uh changing hands so again one that we will keep an eye on especially in the Polish market which is an emerging um fidgetal market let's put it that way uh a bit of news that came in just as uh I was uh getting ready to uh go to uh the third day here at uh AWE um fever again uh and I noticed that a number of the uh media doesn't seem to have run this story yet I don't know if it's because the press release is only uh a couple of hours new or if they don't see the relevance of this but just uh for those that are listening um our friends at Fevo have inked an official suppliers relationship with Formula One this relationship will deal with brand ticketing so they will be creating a specialist portal for F1 ticketing uh they will also be working very closely with the F1 webpage to uh incorporate certain pricing systems this is a five-year global relationship so you know a real long-term one no word if this will have an impact on F1 experience or F1 arcade but I'll tell you this I wouldn't be surprised this is remarkable this is this is the big move up market for fever um they've obviously historically as we've talked about them here focused on location based entertainment experiences not big fucking races globally and I think to be the primary ticketing partner for something like an F1 brand is a big big step up and will be interesting to see how it is facilitated at an actual event right is are they looking to be the next ticket master um or or uh you know where are they looking to find themselves in the broader ticketing uh platform space this this this is a momentous you know not to see our industry see the the implications of this deal kind of tells uh us a lot about how uh myopic sometimes our industry can be regarding these big developments this this will have implications and I wouldn't be surprised if I wake up uh in a couple of days' time and then suddenly FIFA's done a deal with FIFA uh if you're going to do a deal with F1 then why aren't you going to do one with the NBA? Why aren't you going to do one uh with uh the soccer uh sector why aren't you going to do one with the golfing sector? This is a pivot transmedia you know how many people are going to wake up to that bullywick that we've been going on about here I'll get that told you so t shirt out of storage moving on and uh our talking point you know I'm I'm living it at the moment uh you know AWE is taking place right now uh as as the time of recording I'm just going to jump into my uh penguin suit and go to Uh a gala event for the awards ceremony.

AWE Signals XR’s Pivot Toward LBE

SPEAKER_00 1:06:03

But for those of you that aren't familiar with this, Brandon and myself are out at Augmented World Expo. This is the premiere event for everything to do with XR technology applications. It's bigger than CES regarding its applications. And this is really a festival within a festival. It's an event where the technology is shown to investors and to developers, and new concepts are released. It's not that heavy on the public side, even though public do attend, usually on the last uh day, but it is more focused on you know, this is the ultimate in trend setting. I'm lucky enough to be here as we have incorporated, as you've been bored senselessly over the last 12 months, uh uh added to sound off. We've been involved in growing a component of this, which will now talk to location-based entertainment experience. But more about that as we jump in. The big opening event uh took place a couple of days ago. Uh, the team had a record attendance, it's broken records, and that is telling, you know, we know that consumer VR is in the doldrums at the moment, but AI and uh smartware glasses are in the ascendant. Uh and it was reflected the investors and the people that came here. A lot of tire kickers, a lot of people wanting to see the new hotness. Um Specs, part of Snap, decided to launch their brand new augmented reality glasses. These aren't AI glasses, these are display glasses. This these were the glasses that our friends uh versus immersive had intended to use in their augmented reality experience, and it was incredibly telling that you know uh uh Snap spent a vast amount of money in supporting this event, really did double down, and they were demonstrating their new system, uh, and they actually created a kind of location-based uh entertainment experience to show off their new system uh with their uh block battle four-player game experience. I haven't done that, I'm doing that uh in a couple of hours' time uh to see how much of uh a game that they've created. But it is clear that the the new specs headset uh glasses system is aimed at consumers, though consumers with very deep pockets.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:52

Yeah, deep pockets for sure. Um I think we were all a little shocked at their two they're north of $2,000 price point for one of these, especially in a commercial or location-based entertainment um application where you know somebody's going to need to buy 10, 20, 50, 100, depending on the type of AR or MR type experience that they're using these for.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:19

I'm gonna have a conversation with the Snap team to see now post versus what their positioning is or regarding location-based entertainment. They are in the glow of launching a brand new product. They're also in the uh firefighting business of launching a new product that's got people suffering sticker shock. So, you know, uh, I think it may be a good idea to give them some time to cool down after uh a AWE, which can be quite an arduous show. The winner of the head-mounted display uh industry over the last 10 years is not uh Meta, it's not uh Pico, it's not HTC, it is Samsung, and Samsung was at AWE in force for every headset sold out there, be it a PlayStation 2 VR system or any of the Oculus systems or any of the Pico systems, the displays are all made by our friends at Samsung. So they are the winners, and Samsung was at the show showing off uh their new entry into the mixed reality sector with the Galaxy XR system, and you know, they these guys know that they don't really care which industry uh is going to be the winner as long as they still keep on using Samsung headsets, though their relationship with Google kind of tells us that they have an inkling of where they want to continue investing their RD into. Uh, and it was very telling. Our friends at Qualcomm don't really care if it's consumer or enterprise as long as you're using their chips, and they use this event to launch their new uh Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite chip system that will power the next generation of smartphones, the next generation of laptops, the next generation of headset, mixed reality headsets, the next generation of smartware. You know, that they are ubiquitous uh as a provider of the processor systems. You kind of see a pattern here. It's not about the brand, it's about the platforms and the products and delivery. And this is a lovely snapshot that uh AWE gives us. Over 17 years of running this trade event uh kind of proves that they've uh they know their chops. Uh and then our friends at Pico were here. You know, I've never seen so many bike dance executives uh wandering around, and I've never seen so many new Pico executives sweating heavily as they position to launch their uh new system. Uh they're going up against the Apple Vision Pro, they're going up against the uh Horizon XR, they're going up against what is now seen as a new form factor in uh headset technology. But at the same time, Pico was quite happy to say that they are still 100% supporting the commercial enterprise side. And they were waving the location-based entertainment flag, they were sponsoring a number of the exhibitors at the show. And you know, I was breathing a big sigh of relief because I'm the poor dancing monkey up on the stage trying to promote this. This was I am grateful to the AWE family for allowing us to be uh driving a new component of their uh extended family.

What We Saw On The Show Floor

SPEAKER_00 1:12:46

They had a new enterprise component to this year's event. They had a new art, uh, immersive art installation component to this, and they had a brand new game and location-based XR component. And from the uh those individuals that wanted to find a comfortable place to sleep during the conference session, we had uh a large attendance uh of uh those coming to learn from a great lineup of uh presenters that were trying to bring a new theory to uh AWE. It was interesting the questions I was asked after my presentations and some of the other presentations from people who are now doing serious research as they pivot their operations from, depending on the meta um gravy train, towards now looking at where they leverage their business going forwards and seeing LBE uh as an acronym that they need to know more about. Uh, we had a nice selection of uh companies that all had toes or complete bodies in LBE, our friends from VR Caves, Synthesis, um uh Hololabs, Dream Parks. The list goes on. You'll have to wait for your Stinger reports for the full list. Uh, but we also had secondary companies, uh, companies that are directly or indirectly involved with LBE, such as our friends at Cleanbox with their hygiene systems, such as our friends uh to be haptics with uh their haptic vests and technology. Um Brandon had uh a chance to wander around the uh show floor fully. I'm I'm only halfway through uh that. Any of the LB stuff that jumped out at you, sir?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:41

Um yeah, I mean, there were a few small like startups, I would say, that uh didn't necessarily jump out at me from something that is immediately deployable uh inside a facility, uh, but that they are clearly dancing around the location-based entertainment space. A lot of it is coming out of universities, actually, and some uh smaller, uh, some smaller developers that are trying to come up with new ways to use this technology inside of a venue. Uh, and so, you know, some of them actually very directly seemed like a competitor or future competitor to Dream Park or A Station. Um, some, you know, but I would say nothing that I felt like was immediately going to see its way into our sector within the next few years.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:31

The hardest part about this is the chicken and egg syndrome, which I've been talking with a number of the it is easy to say we're going to add an LBE component to an existing XR conference, but you know, the two arguments are will you get enough exhibitors and will you get enough operators? Will they just be showing and demonstrating to the choir, or will they be able to get the congregation to come? And it's it's been very hard to kind of start the engine, but now we have started the engine, the interest is there. Uh kind of uh supported by the changing fortunes of the consumer VR sector, uh, and now by the drive in investment to find a safe pair of hands and bricks and mortar and location bases seem to do that. I feel it will be much easier for next year's uh 2027 LB uh LBE component uh to benefit from uh the green shoots that have been planted uh at this event. One of the most surprising things for me is uh I used to write for a trade publisher a consumer B2C facing uh portal for the consumer VR sector, and they just turned round and said, uh, you know, 10 years on, can you please start again talking about LBE in our uh in our uh service? So that's kind of telling us that uh a giant reset has taken place, and uh the Orgy Awards reflects that. I was one of the judges. Uh if you're not familiar with the AUGIS, this is uh an award ceremony that picks out greatness and innovation in the XR sector, and we've now added an LBE component to that, which will be uh awarded in a couple of minutes' time from where I'm sitting with time of recording. It was interesting to see some of the technology being used uh in what some would say non-VR application, but I would say XR capabilities. One of those was our friends at Vertrix, who has a long lineage over the last 10 years in the location-based entertainment market, but has pivoted heavily towards their consumer VR sector, even floating on the Nasdaq based on that. But they're now also finding their technology being used a lot more in enterprise. And there was one of their Omni One uh omnidirectional systems being used with a robot that was walking around the uh show floor, uh allowing the controller using 3D glasses and an immersive projection environment to steer that robot. Uh, a lot of uh those robots aren't there, uh out there aren't really robots, but they are radio controlled drones.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:21

Yeah, and I think this is one of the reasons why I didn't recognize that it was a Virtuix Omni One device sitting there. I walked past this a couple of times and I was a bit perplexed because it was not their standard VR installation and was definitely not focused on the consumer application at all.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:37

So, you know, this is kind of what we're gonna see. We're gonna see a lot of we're gonna benefit in location-based debt to table. Companies that were going to be uh developing the smallest, fastest hotness are going to now have to pivot into a market where they're going to sell comparable uh amounts. We saw our friends at Microsoft pull out HoloLens, that left a number of companies high and dry. We saw our friends uh at um Magic Leap pull out their uh headset away from the market. That left people high and dry. And so we're now seeing the companies in China that were going to manufacture these systems, you know, they're not going to be left high and dry. If they created a fabrication plant, all they have to do is change some patents, uh, round the corners on the design, and they'll re-release them. And there was a company that was showing a product on the uh AWE floor, which is fundamentally uh HoloLens 2, repackaged and redeveloped uh under a Chinese manufacturer. And I know a number of companies that will shake their arm off to have an alternative after they were left high and dry by Meta uh and Microsoft. Sometimes the I'm taking my ball away and you guys can't play anymore mentality doesn't work when uh you're having to think of a considerable fab. I don't want to go uh too much into uh all of this because it's still pretty fresh with me and I know that there's going to be more developments. I think this is uh a valuable a valuable opportunity for a guest gad, Brandon. I don't know if we should consider okay. Well, maybe we should also let our audience vote with their feet whether they want to hear us go into more detail. Uh I I can tell everyone that didn't go to this event for various reasons that they will be suffering FOMO from this. There were opportunities that did materialize. I can understand that you can't go to every event, uh, and especially uh at this time of the year you're focused on sales and opportunities. But sometimes you need to go to where uh the B2B is rather than the echo chambers are. And uh I will be working very hard. Well, we have to do the post-mortem with the uh the show organizers about what we're going to do next. But I'm also hoping uh that we will be taking the love of LBE to their other shows. AWE runs uh a show in Europe that I've presented at a number of times, and they also run an Asian event, and we're we'll look to try and make sure that LBE's flag is unfurled at all of these events.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:14

Yeah, indeed. Indeed.

Wrap Up And Next Steps

SPEAKER_01 1:21:17

All right. Well, it was a great start off, Kevin, and we will see you on the next one.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:22

Have a good one.

Brandon Willey

Host