VRguy podcast Episode 26: Kevin Williams discussing updates in out-of-home VR - The VRguy's podcast
Summary: My guest today is Kevin Williams of KWP Consulting. Interview transcript appears below the media player. This episode was recorded on Sep 5th, 2017.<br> Kevin and I have spoken 18 months ago on the out-of-home VR industry and this is an opportunity to cover a lot of the new trends that have developed since.<br> <br> <a title="Subscribe on Android" href="http://www.subscribeonandroid.com/sensics.com/feed/podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><br> <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vrguys-podcast/id1071083566" target="_blank" rel="attachment wp-att-25553 noopener"></a><br> <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=80685&refid=stpr" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a><br> <br> <br> <br> Yuval Boger (VRguy): Hello Kevin and welcome to my podcast.<br> Kevin Williams: Oh, thank you very much for having me.<br> VRguy: So who are you and what do you do?<br> Kevin: Oh my name is Kevin Williams. I’m the founding director of KWP and Consultancy in the out of home entertainment sector. I also run and publish the Stinger Reports newsletter. And I’m also the founding chair of the DNA Association, which covers out of home entertainment leisure and that is also the main funder of FOIL, The Future of Immersive Leisure Conference, which takes place in September.<br> VRguy: Excellent and you and I have spoken on the podcast about a year and a half ago and so first, congratulations on being the first repeat guest.<br> Kevin: (laughter) Thank you.<br> VRguy: Sounds like one or two things have changed over these 18 months in the out of home entertainment. Would you agree?<br> Kevin: I would have to agree but you know, everybody that knows from my writing and from my presentations, I’m a fanatic about out of home entertainment, so all I can see is fantastic opportunities.<br> VRguy: Excellent, so what has changed over the past year and a half?<br> Kevin: Well I think the fundamentals are that the industry, let’s look at it as a three way industry. We have the virtual reality sector, the creation of virtual worlds using head mounted displays. We have the augmented reality sector. You’re using objection systems and overlay systems to superimpose synthetics into the real world. And then we have the mixed reality sector, which are the people who use projections for 3D projection mapping or the guys that are using enclosed environments for immersive entertainment. Those sectors have been bubbling along.<br> The aspirations that consume a sector was going to be the big thing, you know, remember the comments, 2016 was going to be the year of VR? Sadly, the reality set in and it looks like the price points, the availability of software, the complexity of the hardware has meant maybe VR for the consumer side is not as imminent as some thought. Where for us for the out of home entertainment sector, we’ve been opening bottles of champagne because that’s really fallen into our sector and people still are interested to try VR, but what they’re doing now, it looks like they’re going to out of home entertainment facilities to get their VR enjoyment, rather than purchasing it for home.<br> VRguy: How many sites are out there these days?<br> Kevin: Oh, you’d have to hire a really good consultant to tell you that. (laughter) In reality, in China, we think that there’s about eight to nine thousand different VR parks or VR arcades. The rest of Asia again, in the high thousands. We’re seeing a lot of them popping up in their arcades, in their cyber entertainment cafes. That’s where they’re stand alone. In the West, in Europe, about a thousand to two thousand. This includes theme parks that have included virtual reality roller coasters, as well as specialist facilities and pop ups and the same for America, you know. I think it’s fair to say from the calculatio...
