Kevin Williams

While compiling the exclusive coverage during AEI’22 and Amusement360 (coming soon), information was also collected on the latest facility developments. This included a first look at those sites in Las Vegas, as well as news of other projects in development internationally.  Visiting the AREA One of the important ventures visited during the Las Vegas stay was AREA15 – the self-styled world’s first purpose-built immersive entertainment district, offering live events, distinctive attractions, interactive art installations, extraordinary design elements, and hospitality. It was revealed that the venue has seen some 2 million visitors in its first year of operation and has won several audience awards for its mixture of entertainment and art installation. The space has been selected well outside of the main strip area of the casino and resort Mecca – the nondescript warehouse district has been transformed into an entertainment […]

The build-up before the mad rush of American trade conferences and physical shows continued, with some momentous and important developments shaping the amusement and attraction landscape – and beyond into the immersive entertainment sphere. We cover news of major changes within the troubled London Resort planning, the developments at the vast Mobile World expo, and the continued mergers and acquisitions across the digital landscape. Attractions & Resorts While EAG previously had close affiliations to the attraction scene, this year’s event was more focused on amusement and gaming. But there were developments in the theme park sector in the UK, which impacted the market while the London show was taking place. The latest major impact hit the troubled London Resort Company Holdings (LRCH) theme park project, just as February ended. It was first broken by the Daily Mail news group that […]

Returning to our extensive coverage of Entertainment Attraction & Gaming Expo (EAG’22) we look at the other elements that are shaping the amusement and entertainment experience. With the conclusions of this return to a physical trade gathering – and the issues shaping the industry.  Frictionless EAG saw the largest gathering of e-Payment systems for the FEC and Adult Entertainment Center (AEC) businesses in recent years – showing the establishment of this payment infrastructure in the modern market. The BANDAI NAMCO Amusement booth represented Embed and their latest range of platforms and applications, including a new kiosk.  Nayax and their operation Tigapo showed off their e-payment platform, readers, and apps. Focused on street routes, malls and FEC, the company is supporting the latest smart apps such as Apple Pay and others. Another prominent developer of smart payments for amusement consideration was […]

We see the return of physical amusement and entertainment trade events, and the London show starts the ball rolling – charting the new trends and some interesting developments in the international, as well as local, scenes. Entertainment Attraction & Gaming Expo (EAG’22), following postponement from its usual January fixture for obvious reasons, saw the event taking place at the beginning of March, now falling into a crowded picture of events only a few weeks before the US amusement and hospitality trade shows. Amusement BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Europe (BNAE) – we are just about to see the parent company in Japan updating their branding (expected to be reflected across the divisions). While no new videos were on display, the BNAA had developed the ‘PAC MAN Power Pellets’ redemption machine (a joint venture between UNIS and BNAA), which was on show fresh […]

Those long-suffering readers of The Stinger Report will have begun to see a consolidation of the various elements of the immersive / interactive entertainment landscape that we have made our focus for over 28-years. In looking at immersive entertainment in the Out-of-Home Entertainment scene, we have seen competition evolve into eSports. Competition in the Frame An aspect of the competitive socializing landscape is the tournament and championship element of the business. This is personified by the overall term of eSports – a perception that all competition revolves around this term. The reality is that a true understanding of how Out-of-Home Entertainment can embrace and profit from this genre was recently discussed. Amusement would seem to have already cut its teeth in the origination and adoption of competitive play, in an industry that established collection and promotion of players’ stats (first […]

The explosion in new entertainment facility development continues apace, with moves by some corporations towards a “Digital/Physical” strategy. This report looks at the convergence of the new social entertainment blend, while at the same time charts the appearance of new active entertainment investment and repositioning from the latest leading corporations to embrace the metaverse. Competitive Entertainment Culture The rise of Social Entertainment has been personified by the explosion in popularity of the hospitality-centric entertainment venues seen with Puttshack, FlightClub, Topgolf, Swingers, and other brands. However, the descriptor for this new phase of entertainment experience is better described as “Competitive Socializing” – a term first coined in the UK, gaining mainstream popularity as far back as 2015 and initially defining pubs incorporating a circus entertainment vibe, or bowling and F&B brands. Moreover, it is a blending of a hospitality atmosphere married […]

Moving fast into the Chinese New Year of the Tiger, and investments and developments have sprung into action, with major corporations pouncing on big opportunities. This report will start with a look at the investment in eSports, and the marriage with interest in cryptocurrency and beyond. Then we will turn to the Japanese amusement and gaming scene and view the upheavals, restructurings and new investments hoping to keep this market relevant in the modern time.  Electronic Sports and Payment Considerable investment in the eSports sector was made by the Saudi Arabian government, through their Public Investment Fund (PIF) through Savvy Gaming Group (game industry investment corporation), who acquired ESL and FACEIT groups for the sum of $1.5b. The groups run tournament competitions, as well as running apps for players to organize independent tournaments. This development marks one of the largest […]

There are momentous developments across the social media, videogaming and location-based entertainment markets. The time for acquisition, restructuring and more is at hand. Looking beyond the changing perspective of entertainment investment, we see another major acquisition take place and start a bidding war across the sector.  The Acquisition Game Only a matter of days after the videogame industry was rocked by the momentous deal by Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard and their associate components for $68.7b (as well as the fallout from the Amazon acquisition of MGM Studios for $8.4b), a feeding frenzy erupted in the industry that seems to mark a pivotal point in its history – what some have labelled the “Videogame Consolidation”. However, it may be better to see this as an “Entertainment Consolidation”, as the ripples widen towards creating true multi-media corporations.  Announced just at the […]

While the world still reels from the impact of the Global Health Crisis, other momentous developments seem to fly past. But it is important to take time and take stock of where the industry has come from, and where it is going. In two far reaching observations, we first look at the anniversary of the videogame market, and then at how the next generation of entertainment looks to embrace high brands. Birth of the Interactive Nation The video amusement industry represents the oldest facet of the digital interactive entertainment landscape. This is the originator of most of the game strategy, gameplay, competition, and nomenclature that has gone on to establish the vast $175b consumer games industry. 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of ‘PONG’ – the phenomenally successful first mainstream video amusement release, and a game that would cement video amusement […]

The New Year started, but some of the old issues that plagued the previous period seem to still be haunting the industry. However, first we need to conclude the last physical event of the 2021 period, before giving a detailed rundown of the amazing developments across the immersive landscape. Simulation Concludes Year There was one last show event development from 2021 – with the all-important 54th I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference), for military and commercial simulation and training. The event took place only days after the IAAPA cornucopia at the same Orlando convention center; with several of the amusement trade exhibitors crossing the aisle and taken space at ITSEC’21 to represent their other business in simulation and training. As with the entertainment sector, the simulation sector has seen its share of recent mergers and acquisitions, one such being […]