Mixed Reality: When Technology and Nature Come Together
Valo Motion is one of the most mission-driven businesses in the location-based VR industry. It’s founder Raine Kajastila and many of their employees are active outdoor enthusiasts. They rock climb, kayak, camp, and spend as much time as possible in the rugged outdoors of Finland.
Where most technology seems to encourage a more sedentary life, Valo Motion is in the business of using mixed reality to empower people to move. Their first product, the ValoClimb augmented reality climbing wall, became a viral sensation in 2016, capturing the imagination of millions of people. It gamified indoor rock-climbing encouraging people to go higher and faster, getting stronger while having fun.
They followed that with ValoJump, a interactive trampoline game that projects a player’s live video as a character into a video game. Hundreds of Active
Their newest product, ValoArena, applies their technology to a much more accessible attraction. No longer do you need to be strong enough to climb a wall, overcome fear of heights, or be able to bounce for minutes at a time. ValoArena lets anyone experience the magic of mixed reality games with their friends.
The games are fun and high energy, and encourage up to six players to run in place, jump, and even sprint from place to place. The games are only 3-4 minutes each, but are intense, getting players hearts racing.
The Floor Only Looks Like Lava
Out of their growing library, Groundfall, a take on classic The Floor is Lava game, generates 55% of their play. Players have to continually move to the safe floor times, or they see their on-screen body fall into the lava. It’s a goofy fun game, and makes for a great spectator experience.
“ValoArena has a WOW factor. When customers watch someone playing it on the screens, they start laughing because it’s really funny.” – Chris Kimlingen, Manager of Operations, RPM Raceway, Farmingdale, New York, USA.
Knowing they wanted to get people moving, Valo Motion committed to building a large attraction. But it’s paying off for locations that can dedicate the space. “What’s so impressive about ValoArena is that it generates more than enough revenue to substantiate its large footprint,” Chris added.
Steffen Brunckhorst, CEO & Co-Founder of Adventureland in Germany, concurs.
“People are playing ValoArena constantly – it has 86% utilization!” Considering it can handle up to 90 players per hour, that’s a lot of people being empowered to move.
Leveraging Social Media for Location Marketing
Marketing is an ongoing challenge for any location-based entertainment venues. Valo Motion created a social sharing video feature that makes it easy for patrons to share their experiences with their friends. After every game, players are encouraged to enter their email to retrieve their gameplay video. They can then share to their social networks with one click.
Denis Zemund, Founder, CEO & Co-owner of Gravity Station in Poland, absolutely loves the feature. “On ValoArena, guests start to share videos of their experiences. They just love it. Our usage and revenue numbers are always going up. Always.”
Mixed reality gaming arenas are attractive to operators who don’t want to deal with the labor and complexity of virtual reality. No headsets or controllers are required, which makes the attraction highly accessible for all guests. For locations with the space who want to offer their customers an active, social, attraction, ValoArena is proving a popular choice.
To learn more about Valo Motion and ValoArena, come to the VR Arcade Summit on March 18 at 1:00 PM for the Immersive Appeal panel, where experts will discuss using mixed reality technology to attract a broader audience.