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Opportunities

ESports, which has applied for a patent for its method and system of game entertainment facilities, has plans to roll out 400 other gaming theaters throughout the US in the next four years, including Los Angeles and New York. With gaming incredibly popular from San Diego to Stockholm to Seoul, that number could mushroom worldwide soon.

Making the best possible use of valuable real estate

Renting and exploiting real estate is costly. If you’re in a business where your B2C space is empty most of the day or night, but the rent or mortgage never takes a break, be inspired by Pacific Theatres in San Diego, which has cleverly anticipated the video gaming craze and the desire for BEING SPACES, by turning one of its screens into a massive multi-player gaming theater. Theater seats are equipped with Internet-connected computers and gaming consoles and visitors can compete against others in the theater or play online with people around the world. The theater offers 100 stadium gaming seats and more than 3,000 games (from “Madden 2003” to “Counterstrike”) for the PC, PS2, GameCube, and even Xbox Live. The service is doing well, even though most gamers have all the equipment they need at home. But then again, owning a TV, VCR or DVD player has never stopped people from going to the movies either. (Check out our BEING SPACE trend to see why.) Filmgoers who have a ticket to a Pacific Theatre movie get 30 minutes free playing time. Dedicated gamers pay by the hour, with opening hours being 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Which means Pacific Theaters not only gets the moviegoers that just come in to play a quick game, but also hard-core gamers who meet for tournaments, during hours the theater would normally have been (almost) empty. The new gaming theater was created by ESports Arena, a leader in computer and console gaming solutions, and interactive entertainment in online and offline venues. (source: techtv.com, livegamenews.com). ESports was inspired by South Korea’s 15,000 gaming rooms (which Springwise will cover in the upcoming May issue), which are lacking in the US, even though there are more gamers in the US, then realized that an infrastructure was readily available in the sprawling networks of cinemas around the US.

Opportunities

ESports, which has applied for a patent for its method and system of game entertainment facilities, has plans to roll out 400 other gaming theaters throughout the US in the next four years, including Los Angeles and New York. With gaming incredibly popular from San Diego to Stockholm to Seoul, that number could mushroom worldwide soon.