Metro Vancouver's first virtual reality lounge opens its doors

Going to an arcade used to mean stepping up to a giant gaming console, dropping some change into the coin slot and playing a game on a screen in front of you. 

But virtual reality has changed all of that.

The screen has become a headset, and instead of using a joystick, your movements are the controllers.

Two recent University of British Columbia grads, Charlie Shi and Alexander Chua, have jumped on the new craze that's sweeping the world and opened up Metro Vancouver's first virtual reality lounge.

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"There are these headsets you put on over your head and essentially it will bring you into this virtual world," said Shi.

"It could be anything from travel to a game to another immersive movie experience. It could be anything you could think of."

The UNIVRS arcade on Park Road near No. 3 Road in Richmond, B.C., offers four virtual reality booths that groups of people can rent out for an hourly rate.

"We've already launched our booking system and we're almost packed for the first two to three weeks," said Shi.

"So we've seen a lot of people wanting to try it."

A surging market

Consumer behaviour expert and UBC marketing professor David Hardisty says the popularity of virtual reality gaming is climbing to new highs.

"It's still small, but it's getting bigger," said Hardisty. "You have major players now competing. Sony, they have it. Facebook is in on the game with the Oculus and then you have the HTC Vive."

Hardisty says the technology is still unaffordable for most inidividual gamers. He says now is the perfect time to open up a virtual reality arcade because they allow gamers to rent the equipment for a low cost.

"The sets cost $600 to $1,000 but it's a unique experience. There's nothing like it, so it's something people want to try."

Co-founder Alexander Chua admits they're swimming into uncharted waters with an idea that's never been tested before in the Metro Vancouver market, but he's confident in his plan because the business model has seen early success in other markets.

The first one in Canada powered up in Waterloo, with cities like Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary following suit.

"You know that Wayne Gretzky quote, 'skate into where the puck is.' That's kind of what we want to follow," said Chua. 

"We want to see where that trend is going and try to get ahead of the game before anyone else can."

How long until it's game over?

Hardisty says although the idea of a virtual reality lounge has a lot of potential for profit, he anticipates there will be some hurdles.

He says arcades will have to adapt once virtual reality technology evolves or they may go extinct.

That includes figuring out how to survive if the technology becomes cheap enough for individual gamers to buy and use at home.

"So it's a question of how popular it gets," said Hardisty.

"If 25 per cent of the people end up with one of these in their home then there's no need for the lounge anymore because you could just go to your friend's place [to play]."

Shi says they are anticipating the technology to evolve and are prepared for the possibility of the entire concept dying off.

"To be honest with you, I think virtual reality will be saturated or will die out in four to five years," he said. "But by then, we'll have moved on to something else.

"Because our focus is delivering a cutting-edge immersive experience and not just dedicated to one piece of technology. "