Month: August 2022

The pace of investments and innovations gains momentum as we move into the latter part of the year, and we see a return to some of the norms of the industry. With major investments being made in the immersive and social entertainment landscape, we cover the latest crop of announcements and developments. We also see that the Chinese amusement and attractions market is to make its mark in defining the future international business; and we get a glimpse at the aspirations that are about to appear in the West. Social and Immersive Facility Progression The continued investment into the social entertainment space was underlined with the news of new funding being raised across the scene. In the Competitive Socializing sector, the retro amusement hospitality chain ‘NQ64 Arcade Bar’ announced it had raised, from investment firm Tin Cats, some £2.5m in […]

The need to understand entertainment’s place in the changing high street and retail landscape comes, as the whole scope of Out-of-Home Entertainment evolves. Beyond the resort, park and tourist business, the inner city and regional aspects of the entertainment offering are experiencing great change. The Stinger Report will be starting a semi-regular series of reports looking at the aspects of this changing landscape, and the opportunities emerging.  Entertainment Anchor for Retail There has been an ongoing move to add entertainment as a bolster against the “Retail Apocalypse” experienced in the mall and retail sector.  The term “Entertainment Anchor” had been previously coined by mall operators to refer to cinema and restaurant additions to a mall’s retail offering, thus, to increase dwell time for customers visiting, and so secure more of the possible revenue. However, with the decline in the cinema […]

We look at the current and past amusement and entertainment scene in order to gain a better perspective during this time of change and investment – looking first at more developments in the amusement and entertainment landscape, and how the current new restructuring is impacting the future aspirations. Meanwhile, the remainder of the coverage looks at the current crop of anniversaries, and the trends from forty, thirty, twenty and even ten years ago, which impact the modern scene.  Entertainment Facility Business The changing landscape of amusement and entertainment facility business, internationally, has been accelerated by the developments resulting from the global lockdown of business, as well as the resulting financial pressures and European crisis. These developments have had ramifications on the mergers, acquisitions and restructuring of businesses in a sector that, only a few months ago, industry specialists had serious […]

The constant technological advancements in VR are seen with the continued investment by Meta into a new range of headsets, and a new “laser focus” on establishing their ambitions of the what the Metaverse will represent. Meanwhile, the reality of generating revenue from the operation of VR is proven by the commercial entertainment sector, with announcement of new venue openings and the launch of new technology to drive the market.  Meta Rings the Changes in VR More leaks regarding the social media giant Meta’s attempts to revitalise their VR plans and Metaverse strategy. Many wait eagerly for announcements at the planned September event. Previously called Oculus Connect, the rebranded ‘Meta Connect’ will reveal many new developments in content and operation functionality regarding their VR aspirations, but there is one development that has already had the lid lifted.  The corporation has […]