HTC VIVE and DAVE & BUSTER’S Announce VR Arcade Partnership

Photo of author

HTC VIVE and DAVE & BUSTER’S Announce VR Arcade Partnership to bring Entertainment to Consumers across the USA

HTC Vive and Dave & Buster’s Entertainment are partnering to launch the largest-ever commercial VR arcade partnership on June 14. Dave & Buster’s will deploy more than 500 Vive headsets across their 114 locations. Vive hardware will power the new arcade installations which will offer new and exclusive VR experiences to the entertainment venues.

VR arcades promise exciting and innovative cooperative entertainment in virtual reality, and we got a very short but engaging taste of it in the Ready Player One Escape Room Demo at NVIDIA’s GTC 2018. In this particular demo, three players put on their Vive HMDs and are transported to the year 2045 and to Aech’s basement for a cooperative escape room-style experience. To exit, players must work together to solve one puzzle which triggers the next until they escape or time runs out.

Source: Ready Player One: OASIS beta, VIVE

Jurassic World VR Expedition will be the featured experience at these locations, so you can probably expect some heart-pounding action. Combining Dave & Buster’s location-based entertainment expertise and the incredibly immersive VR, this partnership officially makes huge advancements in making premium VR more accessible to consumers across the U.S.

Here is the press release from VIVE:

SEATTLEJune 6, 2018 – HTC VIVE™ and Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc (NASDAQ:PLAY) have announced the largest commercial VR arcade partnership launch. At 114 Dave & Buster’s locations nationwide, Vive hardware will power the new installations which will offer new and exclusive experiences to the entertainment venue.

Through this partnership, HTC Vive and Dave & Buster’s have made huge advancements in making premium VR more accessible to consumers across the U.S. Through the deal, Dave & Buster’s will deploy more than 500 Vive headsets across their U.S. and Canadian locations available June 14.

“VR has proven to be a consistent traffic generator in entertainment venues and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Dave & Buster’s to take Vive nationwide into their locations,” said Daniel O’Brien, HTC VIVE GM for the Americas. “Through our collaboration, we’re combining their location-based entertainment expertise and the world’s best VR in VIVE. This is a huge opportunity for more consumers to be exposed to VR and amazing VR content.”

“We’re excited to partner with HTC Vive in the largest location-based VR activation in U.S. and to bring the most immersive VR system to our customers,” said Kevin Bachus, Senior Vice President of Entertainment & Games Strategy at Dave & Buster’s. “Across all of our locations, we know families will enjoy the stunning entertainment that virtual reality offers, and our guests can look forward to experiencing new exclusive content throughout the year.”

The exclusive content, and premium VR Vive headset paired with a proprietary, multi-participant motion platform created exclusively for Dave & Buster’s, provides a truly memorable and immersive experience. Combined with Vive’s realistic graphics, directional audio and haptic feedback – players will feel truly immersed in the virtual world with realistic movement and actions.

This innovative collaboration is the latest in Vive’s efforts to bring premium VR to everyone. To try the experience, players can find a Dave & Buster’s location in their area or through Vive’s Demo Locator.

That is the press release and we will see if we can find out more information for you next week at E3.

Happy VR Gaming!