VR Inn - Free Roam VR blog

COVID accelerates free-roam VR integration to escape and VR rooms

If we can take just one lesson from any game, it will be that a crisis is the most interesting part of it. And that it opens the most opportunities.

Every summer escape room and virtual reality franchises experience a drop in popularity because many people prefer real experience to the indoor ones. Hence, they travel instead of playing games indoor.

But not this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic closed the borders of all countries.

But don’t be so sad about it! 

Because this means new awesome opportunities for your escape room franchise business. It’s time to change a game, standing out from the crowd, and attracting many more engaged clients!

Everything you need is to make your escape room or location-based VR business delight players giving them an almost real experience! To do that, you can turn one of your escape rooms into a full-body VR location simply setting-up a free roam VR.

What is free roam VR?


Free roam VR allows VR game players to find themselves in a virtual world which seems very real due to the usage of motion trackers, backpacks, and haptic vests, apart from the VR headset. 

And though users play in an empty room, they observe a virtual world, its sights, and textures, fighting with enemies and invaders at the same time. 

Full-body VR is something in between real escape room and VR experience. It feels like a totally real world, but the one that is not possible to reproduce in real life. These markets are very similar, so it’s a good idea to present full-body VR to your clients to stand out among competitors and give players who love both escape rooms and VR games a brand new game format.

Check out our video to find out how it works:


Adding a virtual reality experience franchise to your escape room, you can provide a totally new exciting experience for the players.

But if you decide to do that, it’s worth paying attention to free roam VR from the get-go. Compared to the simple virtual reality franchise, it can give the sense of a much deeper immerse.

Why players would attend your location-based VR instead of just buying a VR helmet and playing Half-Life: Alyx at home?

Well, many reasons. First of all, a VR headset and a good gaming computer cost pretty much, and not everybody can afford to buy them. 

But everybody loves to get an exciting experience! Especially, in times when traveling around the world is forbidden and VR games are nearly the only way to get that excitement.


Now, your virtual reality experience franchise may come in handy even for players who can afford the technology needed to play VR games at home, as they can test the VR games in your location to evaluate if they are ready to buy such a pricey toy. 

They will, probably, be delighted and buy it but you may still expect their return.

Just because the free roam VR franchise has one enormous advantage.

What exactly?

Players can play the VR game together and interact not only with the virtual reality but with each other. And this is much more fun than playing at your home alone!


So, what’s the plan?


Of course, it’s not the wisest decision to put all eggs in one basket and transform the whole location into a free-roaming VR one at once. Try to test it first!

As an escape room franchise owner, you probably have 3-4 rooms in one location. So why not redo one of them adjusting it to the virtual reality?

By doing that, you’ll get a great occasion to remind your existing clients about your location. 

And of course, it’s needless to say that you will attract a bunch of new clients being among the first businessmen in the niche. 

So, your client base will grow exponentially because of word-of-mouth, and you will get an opportunity to engage your existing customers more. Besides, having a couple of games in your arsenal, you will be able to increase the lifetime value you can give your clients. And of course, it will be easier than with a mere escape room franchise, as you won’t have to redo a room every time you want to surprise players with a new game.

Conclusion


When a crisis starts, it’s time to grab life by the horns and to take advantage of the hard times. When you are an escape room franchise owner, it’s easier to do now than you’ve ever thought before. And it will bring much more profits as any delightful experience is in particular demand now.

So, if you add a Free Roam VR experience to your assets portfolio, you can get an unbelievable competitive advantage, as you will have something brand new to offer to both your new and existing clients. So, implementing a free roam VR, you pave your way to the impressive ROI.

Use our free calculator to find out how much your future free roam VR location will cost.


Calculate the cost of my Future Free Roam VR room now!