Over the last couple of years, we've seen a plethora of news articles about the way virtual reality was going to conserve the classic arcade. The theory goes that the VR gear is too expensive for home users, therefore it creates an opportunity for operators to pony up the big bucks to purchase it and then make their money back by charging a game to play with it. Even Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong, is attempting to hype the tech since the industry's savior. In the MIT Technology Review.
"While several high-end cans were released annually that may bring virtual-reality adventures to your living room, adoption of the technology is still in its earliest days to get a lot of reasons--it is still bulky, expensive, and there is not all that much to do once you've got it on your face. More than two million cans were shipped worldwide in 2016, according to an estimate from market researcher Canalys, yet this figure pales in comparison to the popularity of, say, video game consoles (sales of their top one, Sony's PS4, topped six million during the 2016 holiday season alone). Consumer virtual reality will probably catch on as prices come down and cans improve. Meanwhile, however, a variety of businesses are betting that customers could possibly be pleased to pay a much smaller sum to try out the technology with their friends at, say, an arcade, theme park, or even bowling alley."
It is tempting to fall into this trap, but in the operator's standpoint VR is a terrible deal. Aside from purchasing a brand new car and driving it a time, I can't think of a way you could eliminate money quicker between what you pay and what you will have the ability to get for it down the street.
Another limitation for most operators is that while you may be able to provide a room for VR people to wander around in now, as fresh VR technology is unveiled, we're going to see the point expanded from 100 square feet into the entire world. Instead of viewing just the games in your headset, you will see the real world with sport play overlayed. Children can visit the park and relive the knights of the round table or parking garages to take aliens. As the tech allows more actual world places to be explored, it's going to earn a cramped arcade look pretty lame in comparison.
VR is already heading for mass market acceptance, however it's demand isn't being pushed by players who wish to pay big buck to play video games, but such as the BETAMAX that came before it, by individuals who wish to watch pornography in their homes.
Even when an operator can make a bit of money to the next few years, once vr games.9d vr cinema (www.childwelfaresocietykenya.org) achieves critical mass, it is going to crush whatever revenue flow that operators're dreaming of. Do not believe me? Just check out what is going on in China.
A year after 22,000 of them have closed.
This is an unbelievable failure rate over such a short time period and one that should serve as a sharp warning to anyone contemplating investing in the VR games. Perhaps Dave and Busters is able to take losses on the matches longer than Chinese startup arcades, but I doubt that most North American operators will fare far better using the technology in their game rooms and will only wind up in debt in the end of the day.
The issue essentially boils down to customers not being prepared to pay a premium for the experience. Tech In Asia, describes the issue perfectly in their own article, on that the Chinese VR boom and bust.

"Enterprising store owners jumped into VR are finding it impossible to charge fees comparable to cinemas or bowling alleys to get a VR experience. One VR arcade owner told iHeima that he saw excited queues when charging US$1.50 to get a 30-minute session, but everyone vanished as it rose to US$5. By that sort of revenue it's impossible to pay the lease."
Even if the match was sold out all day, at $1.50 per half hour they're just earning $30 a day. Together with retail rents in North America running $1 -- $2 a square foot, there's no way to make the math work, even in the event that you assume that Americans will spend more to play the matches.
The actual world data streaming in from China must serve as a canary in the quarter plantations of North America. Operators who spend considerable amounts of money on elaborate VR setups will probably find their little VR rooms being replaced by the whole world for a stage. Since the installations get cheaper, smaller and more portable, the virtual arcades will look more expensive, bulky and restricted.