#1221 – IAAPA 2024 Trade Show Bonanza – Part 1

2024 concluded with the major trade events shaping the 2025 plans for the international amusement and attraction sector. In this first part of our four-part coverage, we will look at the Orlando mega-show IAAPA and try to chart the key trends and developments.

AI Constructed Brief

Part One – The IAAPA Orlando 2024 event served as a pivotal gathering for the global amusement and attractions industry, showcasing approximately 1,100 exhibitors across various segments, including waterparks and family entertainment centers (FECs). Key trends highlighted include significant mergers and acquisitions, notably Falcon’s Beyond’s acquisition of Oceaneering Entertainment Systems, and emerging developments in immersive experiences, particularly in VR and eSports attractions. The introduction of Minecraft-themed experiences by Merlin Entertainments, and the ongoing evolution of free-roaming VR platforms, underscores the industry’s shift towards integrating gaming with physical environments. While the event showcased familiar products and concepts, such as rollercoasters and VR experiences, it also indicated a volatile market, illustrated by the notable absence of major players and a leadership change at Merlin Entertainments. Overall, IAAPA Orlando 2024 revealed both challenges and opportunities as the sector adapts to consumer expectations and technological advancements, presenting a vital landscape for investors to monitor.

Full Stinger Report

The global industry gathered at IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) Orlando 2024 – held in the North and South halls of the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC), as well as a modest outside show space. It was split across numerous pavilion areas, ranging from waterparks to FEC and inflatables, and much, much more, with some 1,100 exhibitors, inside and out – representing a mammoth event to cover.

The Stinger Report has been one of the few to cover the whole gambit of the event – traversing the complete show floors. We have attempted to cover the new developments in the immersive space and avoid repetition from those elements already seen at the IAAPA-EMEA back in September, which we have compiled below.

Media Attractions – the crowded attraction scene has been the epicentre of major developments, seeing the consolidation of brands as well as the withdrawal of major players. SimEx-Iwerks and Dynamic Attractions were just two of the absent exhibitors felt by show organizers, as well as certain event attendees. The IAAPA EMEA show seemed to have corporations who did not make the pilotage to Orlando, but overall, the crowded show floor did not seem any less for their absence.

Other mergers and acquisitions were witnessed in the IAAPA’24 event space, with Falcon’s Beyond and Infinite Acquisition Partners announcing a complex deal to take control of Oceaneering Entertainment Systems (OES) from parent company Oceaneering International. The media attraction ride vehicle specialist, OES, with 25-years’ experience in the entertainment scene, had worked on several projects with Falcon – who will now steer development and sales for the operation under their division.

Several coaster manufactures revealed the usual number of rollercoaster vehicles, and made flashy announcements of new signings, although, other than IP-heavy show announcements, there were no real major developments of note for the immersive side of the business. Media attractions were also represented by exhibitors, with MediaMation promoting their ‘MX4D’ theater motion seating. Meanwhile, Zamperla celebrated the amusement group’s 60th anniversary. The show floor included an extensive celebration of past hall of fame recipients of the association – charting over 100-years of affiliation.

The major theme park developments seemed to happen just after the trade event. IAAPA’24 had only closed its doors a matter of weeks prior, and it was revealed that Merlin Entertainments announced their plans to roll out ‘Minecraft’ immersive attractions – this marks a major development in the “Phygital” space (physical combined with digital). This sees one of the most successful videogame properties moving into a theme park representation – emulating much that has been seen with Nintendo partnering with Universal for ‘Super Nintendo World’.

This development would be overshadowed, however, by the news from Merlin Entertainments of the departure of the current CEO for the operation – having only been with the operation for 24-months. This came as a major upheaval in plans for the corporation. And the extent of the surprise was revealed that no replacement had been selected to fill the void. An interim board director planned to take the role for the foreseeable future, as a replacement is selected.

Returning to the IAAPA’24 show floor, and the media-based attraction market expanded to include eSports competition, such as with exhibitor Brogent promoting their eSports race simulator experience concept. The racing simulator scene at the show was represented with the likes of WAVE Italy, and their monocoque motion race simulator offering wide screen simulation. While across the floor, AMEGA Entertainment brought an example of their ‘E-Racing Container’ – a shipping container populated with sim racing seats and a café bar for audience engagement. Also, on the booth, the company presented their ‘World Rally Simulator’, and a VR offering with their child-themed ‘Mini HeliRide VR’ two-seater experience, and the ‘CineCoaster’ – both using PICO headsets.

Simulation was also represented from veteran manufacturer and developer Maxflight with their unique, two-player, inverted, motion simulation platforms. All that said, the number of simulator-based attractions seemed to have been revealed before the Orlando show in the Amsterdam IAAPA gathering, with no real developments breaking out from the Orlando gathering.

Immersive Presentation – VR investment was considerable, if smaller than previous years. Those who represented products in the majority were hardened to the realities of the changing VR arcade landscape – and were offering strong ROI rather than merely hype.

Free Roam VR Experiences

Creative Works – presented their signature IAAPA presentation with a hoard of applications. The companies ‘Limitless VR’ free-roam platform was leading the innovation, with the ability to support up-to-eight players, and one of the few arena systems at the show that incorporates physical elements into the VR experience seamlessly. The system is seeing constant updates, including to the game experience and software.

Continuing the gamification of the entertainment experience and Creative Works had on their booth the company’s ‘Lucky Putt Golf’ platform. The dynamic digital mini-golf system was supported by a new component. The company revealed a compact table game version of their mini-golf game, with scoring and ball tracking. Also, an impressive new Blacklight printing process to deploy in lasertag arenas and other locations/attractions was on display. There was a wealth of new developments from the company, and this impressive way to reinvigorate the current lasertag arena was missed by many.

IAAPA’24 exhibitor Exploring Digital brought their free-roam VR enclosure (theater) platform, ‘Metaverse VR Theater’, to the show – this version of the system comprises two dedicated playing areas for four-players, using HTC headsets. Offering a comprehensive VR experience, the company was promoting their latest VR game experience ‘MagiQuest’ – adding to their extensive library of 12 titles, developed in-house. This is the popular Great Wolf Park IP recreated as a VR experience towards deployment in the ‘Metaverse’ theaters, installed in their five properties – under the ‘Virtual Frontier’ attraction, and now being offered to other operators. Also being promoted was the new game experience ‘Sandstone’ – a highly competitive VR shooter.

Zero Latency VR returned to the IAAPA show floor, with the company promoting their new standalone free-roaming VR platform based on their technology employed at over 100 locations. The new standalone system benefits from a selection of strong multi-play titles. The company also held an aftershow party for press and VIPs to promote their progress and new game experience. Their ‘Star Marines VR’ experience was operational at the local Orlando VR entertainment center (‘Extreme Virtual Reality – Max Action Arena’). The chance to play the full version of the game, rather than the show demonstration, revealed how compelling this experience really is – one of the best multi-player VR games played that year. The ability to step into the Warhammer 40k universe adds to a compelling adventure.

HOLOGATE took space at the Orlando show, with their ‘Arena Infinite’ version of their free-roam VR platform. Players used the HTC headset and bHaptic vests. VEX Solutions came to the Florida show with their VEX Arena and VEX Adventure free-roaming VR experiences. The arena system offered North American attendees their first chance to try ‘The Smurfs Blueberry Battle’ VR experience, based on the popular IP.

Hero Zone VR also had a presence at the North American event, after a hectic European IAAPA showing – the company’s VR free-roaming enclosure system was using HTC headsets, is seeing many new operators, and is looking forward to showing some new concepts in the coming month. VR Esport Arena operated their ‘Arena Lite’ immersive platform during the show – promoting some 22+ countries running their hardware. The up-to-eight player platform was using HTC headsets.

One of the new exhibitors at the show, entering the crowded VR waters, was Coto with their ‘BioForce’ platform – an Argentinian developer with a VR game experience running on the Meta Quest 2 hardware. Another company using Meta hardware was Battle Start – advertising their franchise-based VR free-roam platform and content. The company had several Meta Quest 3 systems demonstrating their game content. One of the developers in the outside exhibition space was HiM Entertainment – the company was rocking the ‘Laser Limbo’ platform, in what they called their “VR Villa”, as we reported on in our IAAPA EMEA coverage. The Meta Quest 3 headsets were in their MR configuration – the company was offering a B2B single operator turnkey solution for their mobile, and highly frenetic, lasertag style free-roaming system. It was using the pass-through capability of the headset for a fun game experience.

The oversubscribed show floor proved a challenge for many wannabe exhibitors, and those who could not find affordable space on the floor turned to other methods. HTC was a sponsor of a private event held across the street from IAAPA Orlando, in the popular Andretti Entertainment facility. Gathered were a prefusion of free-roaming VR arena providers and support services. Developers included The Rabbit Hole VR (organizers), SPREE Interactive, vrCAVE, Spawnpoint, and Virewirx, as well as Cleanbox, bHaptics and StrikerVR. This proved a valuable opportunity to make comparison across the hoard of free-roaming arena systems that are fielded. Many attendees commenting that, including all the free-roaming arena systems on and off the show floor, this seems a sector of the VR market that is most needing of transition.

One interesting application of free-roaming VR that was seen at the IAAPA’24 show was from Shaffer Distributing – the company demonstrated a gameroom design and layout application, using a Meta Quest 2 headset and special content. This unique design tool showed the benefits of immersive design – and how, in the future, the commercial applications could extend beyond just VR game machines to full CAD and design work carried out immersively.

Tethered VR Platforms

While the show floor plan announced VR 360 ACTION as exhibiting, the reality was different. New exhibitor OVRDRV Games took the space with a selection of VR and simulator products that looked to be identical, if rebranded, to the previous VR 369 ACTION line. In speaking with representatives of the new company, it was revealed that VR 360 has ceased business, with their assets acquired by OBRDRV (explaining why we have not heard from the operation since Amusement Expo). The new operation is focused on IP-based VR and immersive entertainment and has acquired properties to populate their platforms. Examples on display included ‘RollerCoaster Tycoon’ running on their two-seater VR simulator (previously called the ‘OMG Simulator’). Also running on this platform was ‘Gummibär & Friends’ – based on the YouTube sensation – with a crane machine also demonstrated, based on the IP (which still had the VR 360 branding). Also, in VR was ’Neo Overdrive’, a unique shooter using the VR gatling gun style platform. This game was unusual, as the company claimed this was “AI powered”. Further investigation learned that the game levels had been procedurally generated using an algorithm – with all the VR games using DPVR headsets. All these, and a motion simulation experience called ‘NASCAR’, offering a racing simulator attraction.

Editors’ Notes – Following the IAAPA’24 gathering, we have been unable to gain final confirmation of the OVRDRV Games operation statement. Their webpage seems active, but some of the IP owners were unable to confirm the use of their IP. We will continue to investigate the situation. We also need to clarify that OVRDRV Games is not linked in any way to OVRDRIVE, the race simulation and axe throwing venue in Louisville, Kentucky.

Tethered VR was represented on the AVS Companies booth – the amusement distributor, along with their amusement pieces, represent two VR upright platforms. The first was the previously released VRLEO platform – the tethered, upright VR cabinet with automated tethering system. The developers were using the PICO headset. The second release was the new Night Heron Entertainment developed ‘DreamWorks Kung Fu – the upright large screen tethered HTC VR platform (the ‘Lynx’) that had been shown in secret during that year’s Amusement Expo and has been on LocTest at several venues. Still in a 90-percent state, the game offered a fun VR experience based on the popular animated character IP. The developers also revealed they would be offering an additional download option for the platform, with the VR game ‘Vader Immortal – Lightsaber , based on the Star Wars IP.

The ’Vader Immortal’ game had previously been offered as a title on the VRsenal upright VR platform some years back, but the ILXM IP had never received full rollout. Regarding VRsenal, the company did not exhibit at IAAPA’24 – and were reported to have been redeveloping their operation to look at new directions away from their VR upright platform. This may explain why the Star Wars IP is being redeveloped. The company had, at IAAPA’23, demonstrated their full body tracking technology which is looking to theme park application.

Regarding the tethered headset experiences, especially regarding the VR Ride Sim category, and the RILIX and Andamiro USA partnership continued with the announcement of new content for their previous ‘, an operator DLC (downloadable content) upgrade to the original cabinet. Chinese exhibitor Owatch also came to the Orlando show, with their ‘VR BeatStar’ – a two-player ride sim platform using hand-tracking, along with their passive three-rider ‘VR Space Travel’ motion attraction.

Talon Simulations came to the Orlando event with their ‘Vortex’ seated tethered VR system, launched in 2013, using HTC VIVE headsets and incorporating the Atomic A3 full motion platform, along with wind FX. The platform offers over 30 race and flying simulation experiences, for deployment in VR arcades, FECs, and amusement venues. Talon was one of two exhibitors who were at the Orlando OCCC venue, not just for IAAPA, but also a few weeks later for the I/TSEC commercial simulation show – with their ‘Talon Strike’ XR vehicle training platform. HOLOGATE was the other exhibitor with their military free-roaming VR platform for troop training.