#1287 – Attractions Big London Showing – Part 4

AI Constructed Brief

IAAPA Europe 2026 drew 16,530 attendees and a record European show floor, with 89 first-time exhibitors and the largest Chinese presence yet. Chinese manufacturers showcased VR, motion and interactive attractions, underscoring growing competition and direct-sales pressure on Western distributors, while raising questions about safety, compliance and after-sales support. Licensing and transmedia IP were prominent across the floor, sharpening the case for closer coordination between attractions and licensing sectors. Investors should also note the “Coolcation” shift toward cost-conscious travel and the expanding competitive-socializing market, where strong brands and capital are gaining advantage amid consolidation. The event’s reach and commercial trends point to continued industry change.

Full Stinger Report

The concluding coverage of the record-breaking London IAAPA Europe Expo 2026, with the impact from the new developments. Looking at the rise in Asian representation, and the conclusion of the expo, and the issues that arose from this important gathering.

London Attraction Spectacular Part 4

Chinese Attendance

We had reported back in May during our extensive AAA’26 coverage the explosion in “Immersive Theaters” – employing the latest wrapround projection and LED panel displays, compact 12-seat motion bases, and the usage of “deluge” spray and water effects enclosure. The expectation of seeing these make Western landfall had been seen as doubtful and we were proven correct. But that did not stop the appearance of one of the new generations of Chinese dome theater attractions at the London expo.

Yingda Technology brought an example of their suspended flying dome theater attraction enclosure to the show. The only example of the new Chinese variant, the company under the ‘Fly Over The World’ brand has installed their theaters in China, UAE and other territories and are looking towards Europe. They develop their own ride films as well as the R&D for the theaters available in four-to-ten-seater configurations.

MiXR showed on their booth their VR arena system called ‘Infinite Space’, but the big stir on the booth was the showing of a four-player FPV RC sim racing experience called ‘MiniSim’ – along with promoting their ‘XR Dark Ride’, not brought to the show as was their own MR and VR karting system as well as MR arena developments. VART (Longcheng Electronic) one of the established Chinese manufacturers with interests in the VR, AR and MR applications of this entertainment tech, the company had examples of their latest Color Series product lines with the ‘3 Seat VR Parachute’ and ‘3-Seat VR Flying’ systems

WAHLAP Technology had one of their biggest showings at a Western expo, the company representing their ‘Asphalt 9 Legends: Arcade Plus DX’ and the companion ‘Asphalt Moto Blitz Plus DX’ bike racer. These were supported by a selection of amusement pieces the company had brought over since our AAA’26 coverage. This included the licensed amusement piece ‘Miraculous’ based on the cartoon IP.

Speaking of the importance of IP in amusement and The Pokémon Company caused a stir with a low key but big push appearance at GTI Expo China last month. On the WAHLAP Technology booth the company showed ‘Pokémon Spot’. The game represented a major development in amusement for the global brand, departing from a slew of collectable card-battler games (collectable card vended table games), and offering a unique interactive outing, with players smartphone syncing up to a screen terminal which represents Pokémon to launch balls at and compete to collect. A first time for the idea of a smart app “sync-and-play” game. The big presentation, but low promotion from WAHLAP suggesting this may only be a Pokemon Company China property not to see Western placement.

Returning to IAAPA Europe, and ACE Amusement, represented also on the UDC booth, had their own booth space at the London show, with the selection of titles chosen for Western representation from those that we reported on at AAA’26. Of this selection the production version of ‘Hover Rush’ jumped out at us, with slick graphics and an energetic motion seat. Will be interesting to see how this competes in the Western market.

YUTO Games, following on from their showing on other booths also had a selection of their games, including their VR experience ‘Combat Heroes Co-op’ based on the gun visor approach for four players. A surprise appearance on the Movie Power booth was ‘VR SpinWar’. The game had been seen at AAA’26 with its Transformer branding, now minus this, the two-seater inverting motion base VR experience was being played at the show. We were highly surprised by its appearance at the Western event and will be interested to hear from the first operator of this unique VR experience. This was alongside their ‘VR Paraglide’ amusement motion experience.

One of the Chinese developers we had reported on in our AAA’26 coverage, made landfall in London – Oculeap (Yinghua Technology) exhibited at the expo with their two-player motion cockpit ‘Galaxy Hunter VR’ – using DPVR headsets. They also showed the previously revealed ‘Zombie Frenzy: Solo’ gun visor VR amusement. And presented their novel body controlled digital pinball platform ‘Ion Strike’ that we revealed back in May.

In Conclusion – The IAAPA EMEA trade organizers for the event were able to share the stats for the London show, with 16,530 people having attended, from 18,719 registrations, this including 11,710 qualified buyers from 8,956 companies in 118 countries. This was reported as being more than last year’s show in Barcelona, which had 15,877 verified attendees. However, this was far short of the 17,370 at Amsterdam in 2024. Obviously, this was far removed from the last time IAAPA Europe was held in London, back in 2022.

A special press meeting was held on the last day of the show that allowed invited media to ask questions of the IAAPA president and European show organizers. The main takeaways were that this was a record-breaking show floorspace for the European event. Also seeing 89 new first-time exhibitors at the show. This year’s event saw the largest Chinese exhibitor representation in its history. The conference element of the expo also proved an important gathering, one session seeing high level panel discussion on the market between Merlin Entertainments and Universal Studios United Kingdom Resort teams. The changed market conditions were described by the organizers as the age of the “Coolcation” – a new kind of vacation attitude cost-effective stays – engendered under the current global financial conditions that the market needs to adjust towards. Also, the impact of licensing and branding is playing a major part in the focus of the event. Overall, the team was happy with the response to the return to London, and looking forward to the next event.

It was reported that more than 160 journalists and media professionals were registered in support of this year’s expo. Many being identified as influencers. Along with those representing the theme park, attractions, amusement and entertainment trade media. This charting the changing way that the trade is gathering its news. We would like to thank the media team and IAAPA for the opportunity to discuss these matters.

The IAAPA Europe 2026 event saw EDUTours across key UK’s attractions, able to offer association members a chance to see behind the scenes on what is driving the burgeoning market. Some sources speculated that UK spending across theme and amusement parks was expected to rise more than £1.57 billion by 2027. Many feeling that the London show had been a strong expo. It was confirmed that IAAPA 2027 will be returning to Vienna for the 21-23 of September.

Many executives will now be rushing to the States for G2E (Global Gaming Expo), returning to Las Vegas, while the UK amusement trade will be preparing for the Autumn Coinop Show – but even another group will be preparing themselves to return to the same ExCel venue for Brand Licensing Europe, which has be linked to developments at IEE’26 – see the following observations and developments charted from the show-week. We now cover some of the observations and issues charted during the five days of education conference and expo.

A Show in Two Parts

The vast South Hall at the ExCel venue was packed with the majority of exhibitors this year. While there may have been some attendance that was unaware of the North Hall element. While housing the main theater stage, conference rooms and several exhibitors, those not paying attention to their IAAPA app may have missed these exhibitors, as attendance in this space seemed thin compared to the rest of the South. How much is this an omen of what we can expect in November in Orlando, with the West / North divide, when can only consider.

The Chinese Question

The concern of the number of Chinese manufacturers selling directly to Western operators, sidestepping the distributor based in the US and EU/UK was illustrated by a statement made to Interfun by SEGA Amusement Internationals, International Chief Operating Officer regarding buying what were described as “untested” games directly from China. Stating that buying low-cost amusement products from Chinese directly did not reveal the issues of reliability, compliance with regional standards, after-sale support, and supplier longevity. Revealing that SAI has been dealing with Chinese manufacturers for over 15 years and is still getting caught out.

SAI stating issues regarding safety standards, as well as no-licensed content that could fall foul of regulatory requirements. Regulatory aspects SAI works directly with the associations on. This was the most clearly laid out positioning from a Western distributor against the seen rise in direct Chinese amusement machine purchases by operators in the West. The Stinger Report charted voiced concern from distributors during our meetings back in May at the AAA’26 convention in China. Executives from key Western distributors seen walking the floor at the Chinese show voiced their unhappiness as they watched leading operator clients also at the event, buying direct.

This has far greater implications as the whole of the Western amusement distribution organization structure has fallen under incredible strain. Operators questioning the value of traditional distributors, and their added 25-percent to the cost of products they represent. The growth of Chinese amusement product, the expense in representing multiple lines, and the additional shipping and operation expenses current economic conditions are placing on the distributor class are seen to have reached breaking point.

What can this mean for IAAPA Orlando in months. The safe money is that many Chinese manufacturers will be staying away from exhibiting at this years event, based on a mixture of global financial conditions, transportation price rises, and the impact of Tariff and White House posturing leading up to the convention. But this will not slow the sales of Chinese hardware directly. While some have favoured alliances with Western distributors, the rest are working on sales agent representation that will be seen on the Orlando show floor – how the trade association will police this has yet to be seen.

Branding Question

Behind the scenes of the vast London attraction expo, and there were some oils being poured on trouble waters going on. It seems that certain members of the licensing and branding industry were concerned by the amount of business being promoted at IEE’26 that could be seen to directly relate to licensing, IP and branding. Elements directly related to their association and to the immanent Brand Licensing Show (BLS) taking place at the very same ExCel Convention Center in a matter of weeks’ time after IAAPA Europe.

Away from the IP based theme park coasters, the plethora of licensed properties across the categories of the trade floor is considerable. Big licenses ranged at this years’ show from the ‘Jumanji’ property from TRIOTECH, the ‘Stranger Things’ from Raw Thrills, ‘Fallout’ and ‘Transformers’ from STERN Pinball, ‘John Wick’ from Blue Motion, ‘The Traitors’ from X-Cube, and many many more. It is no surprise that Universal Studios, Sony Pictures and Netflix are all heavily invested in a LBE presence. Big movie properties based on videogame / amusement IP adding to the clamour for this Transmedia business.

The way the IP and licensing play a part in the modern amusement and attraction industry IAAPA Europe was also going to be the licensing show, the impact of Transmedia placement (IP parachuted into amusement and attraction releases) was felt across every aisle and in every product lineup. The IAAPA’26 show taking place only a matter of weeks before at the same location the BLS would be held, was going to be an issue no matter how much this was downplayed. The BLS show already installing its own seminar sessions focused on LBE and attraction development. It is expected that IAAPA Orlando in November will see an even greater licensing and IP element – how much this will force the licensing association and the attraction associations to come together with a joint approach is yet to be determined.

Rush to Visit Social

Many attendees to the London IAAPA 2026 event took the time to visit the capitals burgeoning Competitive Socializing scene. Many attendees came up to the publisher and thanked the team for supplying information that helped them plan their visit to a number of the most influential and popular social entertainment anchors in the city. This saw Fairgame, F1 Arcade and Clays seeing mass booking along with the rest. It was interesting many hopefuls were unable to visit the Arcade Arena London venue as it was fully booked during the period of the show – an indication of the venues impact.

Many of those spoken with would not call themselves anything more than amusement or attraction focused operations, but the impact that Competitive Socializing is having regarding the discussion for the future of the industries is such that they felt they needed to see for themselves the popularity of social entertainment. Many now seriously concerned about the increased social entertainment element is having to the future industry discord. Especially visualised by the increased number of Competitive Socializing chains, brands and products exhibiting at the show. IAAPA Europe recognizing this by holding an EDUcation session on this subject.

Behind the scenes during IEE’26 the Competitive Socializing scene was seeing restructuring. The same week, the news would break that XR Factory had sold their holding in Boom Battle Bar to a new operation called F.O Twenty-Four, comprising backing from Frasers Group and comprising the previous founder of the group. While at the same time once popular private karaoke room brand Lucky Voice was acquired by competitors Moyagi. As the head of one leading social entertainment corporation stated, the market is going through a shake-out, creating opportunities for those well-capitalized operators with strong brands. For more information follow our sister service the Entertainment Social Arena.