Sandbox VR, a world leader in virtual reality experiences, will open its €4 million Dublin facility on Thursday, which it expects to be its most successful venue to date in terms of customer numbers.
The 1,020sq m (11,000sq ft) facility is on Nassau Street and features five VR arenas, each of which cost upwards of €150,000. There are nine experiences to choose from including zombie apocalypses, science-fiction adventures, fantasy quests and Netflix’s Squid Game.
Groups of up to six players are immersed in an interactive virtual experience for 30 minutes. The price range is €30-€50 per person, depending on the day and time of the week.
VR headsets, haptic vests, and motion trackers worth several thousand euros are worn by each player to produce the illusion of different worlds, each with its sights, sounds and feelings.
Body tracking technology also allows players to interact within the space and with one another.
The facility, which will employ 37 people, also includes Ireland’s first robotic bartender, created by Italian design company Makr Shakr, which can serve up to 80 drinks per hour. This feature, which is named Toni, also cost six figures to install.
Andy Scanlon, chief executive of Sandbox VR UK and Ireland, said he is aiming to draw about 400 customers per day on weekends and expects to hit 80,000-90,000 customers per year. He also expects to reach €3.5 million to €4 million in sales in year two.
“Early indicators are that this will be our most successful launch ever,” he said. “That is measured by sign-ups to our email database, which is so far three times higher than our previous launch in Birmingham.
“It’s also based on early advance sales. We went live two weeks ago and it’s already tracking 30 per cent higher than the London launch, which is currently our most successful to date.
“This is our 56th Sandbox globally and our biggest to date in terms of expected customers, just because of the level of tourists and corporates you have here.”
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Mr Scanlon said Dublin, which will be one of the group’s flagship venues, is a “massive target market” for Sandbox globally, with a wide demography of customers expected. “That’s because it’s not just a gaming experience,” he said.
“In the UK currently, 55 per cent of guests are male and 45 per cent are female. Our main age demographic is 25-35, but we get more people over 35 than under the age of 25, so it’s not just young males as you might expect.”
Among the group’s best markets, however, is what he refers to as “social leisure”, which encompasses young professionals aged 25-45.
Others include families, tourists, as well as corporates. “We do really well with corporates and we expect the same in Dublin because there is a real demand here for post-work activities and team-building events,” he said.
Mr Scanlon said he expects to reinvest the money generated in Dublin in up to nine other venues countrywide over the next five years, including two more in Dublin, with others in Belfast, Galway, and Cork.
The firm is headquartered in San Francisco with an office in Hong Kong. There are Sandbox locations throughout the US, UK, Europe, and Asia and its investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, Gobi Partners, Craft, and Stanford University.
