AlteredRealitiesVRArcade Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Good morning! I've been following this thread for a while and have not seen anything new about this product.. has Viveport Arcade been abandoned? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HackPerception Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hello, we're still hard at work developing and polishing the arcade platform... More information will be forthcoming soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkrat Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Hi I'm a little confused given that the viveport arcade platform seems to be functioning and is open to registrations with the store also functioning. As an indy VR arcade who are very close to opening, we were almost at the stage where we were going to deposit money to buy credits, however your post has now cast doubt on that. Please can you confirm that the viveport arcade is ready and functioning for VR arcades as we do not want to deposit the money only to find the platform still does not work. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HackPerception Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Hi I apologize for confusing you; the rollout of Viveport is complex and has many moving parts. Viveport Arcade is still in pre-release beta and the platform is still being actively developed and polished. It has not been abandoned as asked. The beta is fully functional and you can indeed purchase credits and spend them on titles. The current version preview release includes a "demo-mode" that will let you explore the software. That said, we're still hard at work processing feedback from operators/developers and getting everything ready for a full public release. We'll be updating the community on our latest developments soon. PM me if you have futher questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sector7vr Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 Thank you for the update What's the ETA for the public release? What additional features will be added? Are you gathering info on price points? Are there any operators successfully utilizing your Arcade management software at its current price point? If so can you provide store statistics ? If not, Is there any consideration in reducing the pricing to a more feasible amount? There was a disappointment in direct to consumer sales because of the price of the tech. The Arcade and out of home amusement should keep the industry afloat long enough for the pricing of the tech to decline to an affordable amount. However, Viveport is now going to be in the same predicament with its viveport arcade subscriptions once operators realize they cannot operate at a profit with these price points. The sole purpose is to keep Indy developers developing and to keep units selling. With long term focus being on the direct sale to consumers once prices decline. Not to overcharge operators on licensing fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sector7vr Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 As was I, I am fully prepared to be operational. However I surveyed many would be customers and they said they wouldn't pay over $20 to play for an hour. Which is cause for concern and pause. I am in south Florida. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HackPerception Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 I am not on the arcade team and thus I'm not the best person to answer these questions with the level of accuracy that an operator like yourself would require. I've pinged a member of the team to take a look at your questions. I can suggest to anyone reading this to continue to post their thoughts, concerns, and feedback on this thread as everything that's posted here will be seen by the arcade team. The more detailed feedback, the better equipped our teams will be to meet your needs. I'd love to see this thread come back to life now that we're nearing public release. Every bit of feedback is valued. In regards to pricing, it may be incredibly helpful to the arcade team to provide real world numbers (profit margins, taxes, overhead... ect) so our developers can have a real-world understanding of all of the factors that an operator faces in a given region. Since this is an international launch, it's very difficult to understand what financial difficulties an operator may face in their specific geographic location. You can PM me with any info that you feel uncomfortable posting here and I'll ensure an arcade team member sees it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlteredRealitiesVRArcade Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 , with all respect, are there not VR arcade businesses in the US that are in the Beta program? Those organizations should be providing the feedback you are searching for. From my admittedly limited POV, there are three types of VR arcade business trying to operate in the US. 1: The BIG BOYS, like Dave and Busters, The Main Event, IMAX, etc. that would have VR as a small part of their overall operation and are likely to be using non-Vive equipment. They can build a VR experience without HTC or Valve if they want. They won't be using the Viveport Arcade. 2. The MALL STORES, which are operating small kiosks or storefronts with 6-8 Vives, selling short experiences to the curious for $20/15m for example. They're forced to run during mall hours, so often cannot be open during prime evening hours, and have the extremely high mall rent plus mall management "VIG" as I call it (15% to them of every dollar earned over X amount) to deal with. The opportunity is there for quick money but the supply of lookie-loos is finite. The Viveport Arcade model would work for them the best but they'd still be paying $10/hour for gameplay. 3. The EXPERIENCE STORES, which run like bowling alleys, don't have the stream of the curious mall-walkers so have to sell longer times and encourage group engagement to drive traffic. They're in the $20-$50 per hour range with 8-16 Vives and a good number of games. To make the numbers work they have to be creative to engage customers, host parties, etc. to get the brand out there. These are the evangelists who are trying to get people to become regular VR users, who are hosting leagues and other engagement activities that are going to help HTC sell product. The Viveport Arcade pricing model kills the Experience Stores, who are running 60-minute sessions and boast utilizations of 80%+. At a utilization of just 63% (assuming $30/hour like bowling lanes on the posh side of town), 403 game hours per week utilization, 16 Vives, they're looking at over $17k USD/month (HALF of monthly expenses in this model, 1/3 of gross revenue!) just for the game licensing. I'm definitely biased here, but I believe if HTC's goal is to sell more Vives in the US, then supporting the EXPERIENCE model a bit better would serve you better in the long run. Discount minutes by volume, for instance? Thank you for your reasoned consideration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supra Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 To quote my post from above... ------------------- $10/hr for 1,000 points * 8hrs of operation per day* 30 days of operation per month = $2,400 With a 50/50 split, $1,200 goes to the developer and $1,200 goes to HTC. That seems off by orders of magnitude. I'm not aware of any developers that charge $1,200/month ($14,400) per year for a commercal license. Space Pirate Trainer commercial license is only $30/month. And that's for 24 hours a day. At HTC rates, 24 hours per day * $10 / hr * 30 days a month = $7200. Viveport is charging 240 times what a single SPT license costs. I'm not sure having a variety of games is worth a 240x increase. You could buy 240 individual licenses for different games at that price, for a single station. Even at the $5 promotional pricing, it's a 120x increase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkrat Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 Not sure if anyone on this thread has used Viveport Arcade in the past but I have on question: - When a game is downloaded on a the host machine, how is it then deployed to the gaming machines? is it shared over the LAN or does the game need to also be downloaded on the gaming machine? Not sure of the deployment of the game from the host machine to the gaming machine (client) works. Would appreciate any thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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