Location-based entertainment will be a $1bn industry by the end of the year and has the potential to become a $12bn market by 2023, attendees at the NAB Show in Las Vegas heard.
The NAB Show, for media, entertainment and technology professionals, kicked off on Saturday and has presented an optimistic outlook for location-based entertainment. Greenlight Insights, an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) market analyst, presented projections to the conference that showed the massive potential growth in the market.
As part of this trend, some companies have started develop dedicated virtual reality amusement parks with a variety of mixed reality experiences. Two Bit Circus is developing one such “micro amusement park” expected to open this summer in Los Angeles, while Emaar Entertainment opened VR Park at the Dubai Mall last month.
Other speakers at the NAB Show were also optimistic about the potential of AR and VR in location-based experiences, but also had warnings.
Brooks Brown, global director at Starbreeze Studios, which has developed the StarVR headsets, warned that many consumers see the technology as fun but a gimmick.
“Technology is leading us,” he warned. “But consumers don’t care. They care about how good an experience it is. If we let technology lead this, we will fail.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/nab-location-based-entertainment-could-be-12-billion-industry-five-years-1100772
