In this interview with CalvinAyre.com’s Becky Liggero, ViARSys’s Konrad Gill shares his views on why virtual reality arcades are a thing of the future.
More and more arcades and gaming venues are clearing their spaces as regulations, particularly in Europe, become even stricter. In Austria, for instance, the arcade gaming scene is suffering due to the government’s new laws.
This led Konrad Gill to found ViARSys, whose goal is to revive the arcade scene in Austria by providing a turnkey solution for operators who wish to enter the arcade environment with a virtual reality offering.
But why virtual reality, you ask?
“We believe that virtual reality arcades are a thing of the future, that’s the window of the next five to 10 years,” Gill told CalvinAyre.com. “I’ve seen that recently a lot of arcades and gaming venues have open spaces because of regulations shutting down places, it’s a tough time. Virtual reality arcades present a very good opportunity to bring life back into old brick and mortar casinos and arcades”
There is a fit for virtual reality with online gambling operators, he said. When it comes to iGaming, Gill compared the journey to fully embracing mobile technology to what he anticipates will happen with virtual reality—it has the potential to revolutionize the industry, but we need to be prepared technologically.
“I think that in the moment we are at the time when we set the constitution of how virtual reality gambling will look like,” he said.
There are several possibilities on how the future virtual reality arcades will pan out. For instance, future slot machines may become virtual reality-based, providing land-based casinos a new medium.
“Now there is again a new medium, and it’s all about convergence and like how you bring the new medium and all the infrastructure together, the experience in actually making the convergence of bringing this technology to every people and pressing the glasses on their faces,” Gill said.
