When they arrived on the scene, escape rooms were a game-changer for group outings.
The elements of mystery, problem-solving, and team-building sparked a boom in escape room popularity and transformed it into an industry on the rise. Escape rooms provide a unique and singular experience for individuals and groups alike. Despite the popularity of escape rooms, that same niche offering uncovers inherent viability questions.
At a higher level, banks and other investors hesitate to pour money into escape rooms because it’s difficult to project their success. So much of escape room franchise costs go into the singular experience they offer that it’s difficult for franchisees to create a hook that brings customers back again and again.
Group experiences should aim to balance unique offerings with fresh and innovative content that engages customers consistently. Location-based virtual reality presents franchisees the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a burgeoning entertainment platform that offers sustainable growth potential.
Where Location-Based Virtual Reality Surpasses Escape Rooms
Location-based virtual reality experiences have the ability to engage customers continually while evolving their content — giving them limitless scaling potential. At Sandbox VR, our location-based virtual reality entertainment drops users into worlds and situations they’ve previously only imagined.
While escape room popularity is limited to a narrow focus, location-based virtual reality introduces users to multiple environments and loads of untapped active entertainment options. Here are three reasons location based virtual reality entertainment should pique the interest of potential franchisees:
- Continued technological innovation.
When users imagine virtual reality, they likely see the headset before anything else. But virtual reality technology continues to morph and adapt to modern users, and the location-based market is a breeding ground for that exploration.
Valve, Facebook, and HEC are just some of the providers bringing varifocal displays and eye- tracking to headsets to streamline location based virtual reality experiences. As these technologies improve, users stand to benefit. At the same time, franchisees can extol the virtues of a customer-centric, location-based virtual reality entertainment platform to potential users. - Replayability factor.
Disney built its empire on a one breakout character: Mickey Mouse. Despite how popular escape rooms are, there is no intellectual property or character-building involved. Customers want more than replayable experiences; they want replayable characters, too.
Location-based virtual reality, especially at Sandbox VR, is built on compelling and investable characters. If we unveil a new title, we want it to focus on characters that users will want to spend time and money customizing — and then feel compelled to continue investing with each successive visit. These add-ons allow franchisees to incentivize customers, turning them into regular patrons who can help increase the location-based virtual reality market size. - Demand for an upscale experience.
Customers no longer want to just make a purchase — they want to share their experiences. The layouts of location-based virtual reality facilities allow customers to document their visits via selfies, videos, and other sharable means.
These keepsakes begin in the facilities, but they can shift from smartphones to social media platforms in one fell word-of-mouth marketing swoop. Escape room popularity grew using this same word-of-mouth approach, but location-based virtual reality enables potential customers to see and share those experiences — providing low-cost marketing for franchisees in the process.
Location-based virtual reality facilities provide an innovative, replayable, and resourceful entertainment alternative to escape rooms. Are you intrigued by the possibilities? Click here to visit the Sandbox VR franchising page and learn how you can build the foundation for a sustainable entertainment option today.