#1210 – Asian Attraction Scene Investment

Continuing the extensive coverage of the May and June amusement and attraction scene, with our Bangkok coverage of the IAAPA Expo Asia (IAAPA-Asia’24).

The Asian Attraction Expo Event (Part 2.)

The rest of the IAAPA-Asia’24 show was a mix of technology, services and developers. As has become the case, the proximity of the IAAPA-Asia event to the Chinese sector allowed a strong showing of VR developers who would not normally frequent the Orlando or European trade events and offers a great snapshot of investment – especially following the observations from the AAA’24 show (previously covered by The Stinger Report).

Chinese VR on display included that from exhibitor FunInVR, showing their ‘VR Battleship’ – a passive multi-rider system, and their ‘360’ VR Simulator’ – another passive inverted ride experience, powered by Chinese curated content. Another exhibitor, Movie Power, presented ‘VR Space Ride’ – an immersive enclosure attraction, with riders on unique motion seats, using VR to enjoy the “soaring-style” experience, in what some have likened to a turnkey mini version of the ‘Avatar’ attraction. The system uses PICO headsets.

Regarding the Asian VR landscape, following on from our AAA’24 coverage and its impact on the Western market, and news broke a few days after IAAPA Expo Asia 2024 that development specialist VAR LIVE had undertaken a repositioning of their Japanese business. All the assets and sales resources of VAR LIVE Japan were transferred to the corporation Dynamore Amusement, with all business operations for amusement being handed over to the company for their VR kiosk systems. Dynamore Amusement is an operation and VR developer, operated by GENDA, the powerhouse amusement facility and operation corporation. Our readers will be aware of the Dynamore capital alliance agreement with GENDA, that we announced in May. This news marks the latest M&A movements in the VR amusement sector. Only impacting their Japanese sales plans, the Hong Kong company behind the ‘VAR BOX’ had previously been hosted in the West by, at first, the VR Collective arranging testing, promotion, and distribution, and then reverting to representation by Creative Works, towards establishing a Western presence for their VR platform with its proven and popular eSports tournament infrastructure. Regarding GENDA, major news would soon be released from this corporation – see below.

Returning to IAAPA Asia 2024 and the XR landscape, the application of gamified media-based attractions was best personified by the Intelligent Entertainment booth, representing the ‘Pixel Game’ platform, offering an interactive gaming floor. IAAPA-Asia exhibitor BattleKart Entertainment was promoting their AR karting platform and revealed the announcement of their first franchise in Melbourne, with the corporation working hard to roll out franchise sites. Also, in the karting sphere, SodiKart exhibited their ‘Game of Karts’ – a half-way between karting and a racing videogame, with a kart mounted screen allowing the selection of missile, bomb, shield and boost, to be virtually launched at opponents.

Speaking of AR based karting and the continued rein of the M&A conditions of the market was reflected with the news of Little Lion Entertainment Group revealed their intentions to buy The Ent Inc., the developers behind ‘Chaos Kart’ and ‘Games Arenas’. Little Lion Entertainment is known for its ‘Crystal Maze LIVE Experience’ based on the successful game show, the predecessor to the escape room experience – and turned into a multi-location entertainment space in the UK. No financial details on the acquisition of The Ent Inc. were available, as the operation starts a major move to become a leading global leisure and entertainment operation.

With this news, Little Lion Entertainment also revealed plans to release a new small-scale attraction based on their previous work with ‘Crystal Maze Mini’ – to be launched to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the television show next year. Along with this, the continued expansion of the ‘Chaos Kart’ operation will see the opening of the first UAE installation, and a new London site alongside their Manchester venue – based on the AR karting experience. Plans for other new attractions from the conjoined operation will be reported on soon.

Back at IAAPA-Asia’24 and simulation was present from exhibitors such as AMEGA Entertainment. Meanwhile, the emerging Social Entertainment aspect of the business was represented. Exhibitor Brunswick Bowling Products, the bowling powerhouse, was promoting their booth the ‘Duckpin Social’ platform. QubicaAMF Worldwide was also promoting their FEC boutique bowling and theme park installations. And Shenzhen Eternity Technology had information on their new ‘Engine Strike’, the companies string based pinsetter bowling platform, and ‘Fire Roll’ mini-bowler.

The development of the payment infrastructure for amusement and social entertainment was also represented on the show floor. Exhibitor Sacoa Cashless Systems was also in the news following their selection for the second FunBox installation in the UK. The FunBox arcade area resides within the Gravity Max urban entertainment venue. An agreement with Sacoa saw SEGA Amusement International partner with the payment facilitator operation to install their PlayCard platform within both the Liverpool and newly opened Stratford locations, all supported by the K4 kiosk system. The system was selected to give guests the autonomy to enjoy the venue their way, offering low labor related costs. We look forward to report on the implementation of this payment system in a coming report.

In Conclusion – IAAPA-Asia 2024 offered a bright return to the region, with the signature lavish opening ceremony, using digital backdrop innovation. The convention was supported by an extensive conference educational summit session. Overall reporting saw a qualified attendance of some 4,500 guests to see some 350 exhibiting companies. This compared drastically with 2023’s Singapore event and 5,300 attendances. This adds to questions regarding the selection of Thailand over other popular opportunities.

Regarding the chatter from the show floor and, before the event, many had questioned the selection of Bangkok for the 2024 event. Questions had been raised regarding the expected high price of the Thailand location. In the current financial climate, suggestions were made that the selection of this venue may see key exhibitors have to abstain from a prominent presence on the show floor. 2025 will see the IAAPA Asia event return to Shanghai at the later time of July 1-4. This later fixture will offer a unique challenge for some exhibitors, though the return to China will be welcomed.

Those who attended IAAPA Asia 2024 noted that there were some noticeably absent exhibitors. One of those who had a big presence last year but was absent this year, was Dynamic Technologies Group – known for their robotic Dark Ride, and dynamic media-based motion theatre, along with coaster attractions (under the Dynamic Attractions division). In 2022, some industry observers had pointed to the Dynamic Technologies webpage, that seems not to have been updated. This was. around the same time as the rebranding of the operation, to consolidate under the single brand. This was followed in March by the corporation’s management obtaining an initial order for protection against creditors. The inevitable took place in July, with a short announcement that the corporation was closing transactions and then went dark – only for a following announcement that the assets of Dynamic Technologies had been sold to a Hong Kong-based financial services firm for $2m in 2023. Now branded Dynamic Entertainment, the status of ongoing commissions was left in limbo, with several abandoned theme park projects and absence from major trade show sponsorship deals.

Big news would break some weeks after IAAPA Asia 2024 that would have major implications for the Western amusement scene. Japanese facility giant and powerhouse, GENDA (Global Entertainment Network for Dreams and Aspiration), revealed they had taken a 100-percent stake in street route and mini-amusement facility operation National Entertainment Network (NEN), for a yet undisclosed multi-million Dollar deal. The company was running some 8,000 amusement units, some of these game rooms (as well as single machines), placed on property in malls or stores such as AMC Theaters, and Denny’s. This move is to expand GENDA’s Western presence, alongside their growing ‘Kiddleton’ range of crane and Gashapon stores in the States, and their ownership of the ‘Enterrium’ flagship Chicago location (previously the ‘PACMAN Entertainment’ venue). NEN and GENDA had acquired several of the previously owned NAMCO USA sites – and this move will now consolidate the holding and start a major move towards expansion in this sector. As seen in our previous coverage, GENDA has been partnering and merging with numerous Asian operations towards consolidation of their operation, building on their ‘GiGO’ chain (previously the SEGA chain of Japanese arcades). This US move sees the continued support of the Round 1 operation – who had previously helped launch the ‘Kiddleton’ US chain with GENDA – and this NEN deal saw investment supporting the move from the company. The stock traded GENDA operation is working hard to establish itself as the world’s number 1 entertainment tech operation – as promoted in recent marketing.

Also taking place around the same June period in the sector, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) SATE Europe conference in Gardaland, Italy, was held, seeing a strong attendance and a drive towards innovation. Meanwhile, in the amusement sphere, the Park Avenue Openday in the UK saw the traditional gathering (again in the sun) for the UK and selected European guests. The hospitality of Electrocoin and UDC was legendary, as always. The event was taking place prior to the East Coast Amusement Show – a showcase for the amusement trade outside of the capital. The Park Avenue event saw over 30 companies and showcased 150-200 new products.