***Out-of-Home Entertainment
Taking Numbers in Las Vegas on a Saturday Night
Las Vegas on a Saturday night - what better to do than observe
entertainment facilities - really - not kidding! With our trusty counter
we went looking for the high and low technology rides and amusements. The
ROI is about the coin drop and we can learn much by watching attendance
and play.
Gameworks
Coin-op operators have been telling us that they did not believe
Gameworks is making their numbers. This is a difficult issue to verify
because it is not quantified, however, our view is similar. We have gone
to all but the latest facilities and continue to come away with the
assessment that there is a lack of crowds. We went back to Gameworks for
another look in Las Vegas.
Gameworks is facing intense competition in its location at the corner of
Las Vegas Blvd. and Tropicana. MGM Grand has recently re-done its
shopping and entertainment complex. The arcade is now at the far back end
and in the basement. We were generally unimpressed by this facility but
it has the major advantage of being in the hotel casino complex. Across
the street is New York New York with its Coney Island play area. This was
hopping and we will describe it next. Thus, Gameworks looks isolated and
out-of-place. It is also interesting to note that seldom does an isolated
entertainment center make it. One of the best examples of this is VWE
that has closed in Las Vegas. In spite of being on the strip being alone
was not good enough.
We went to Gameworks at 8:20pm on Saturday night and counted only 152
persons. In a number of sections with multiple games there was no one. It
seems as if the rock climbing is one of the major attractions which pulls
street traffic but it was not evident that this brought individuals into
Gameworks itself. We did note that there was a wide diversity of players
from individuals to couples to families. There was no evident demographic
concentration.
Coney Island
Coney Island is in the upper section of New York New York near the
entrance to the roller coaster Manhattan Express. On this evening the
roller coaster was closed but this seemed to have no impact. This
amusement area tried to emulate a traditional carnival atmosphere with
many types of play including ball tosses and other types of non-coin op
games. In fact, there is a distinct difference from Gameworks where Coney
Island was full of diversity to the point where video games seemed a
small part. At Gameworks video games is virtually all that there is.
Coney Island has created a very different atmosphere that was more
festive and flexible. Another component was the pricing of the video
games. We only found one piece at $1.50 and all of the others were at
$1.00 or less. For example, Atari 51 was $.50 and House of the Dead was
$1.00 while it was $1.50 at Gameworks. Most of the pricing for the
popular large pieces was $1.50 at Gameworks. Coney Island had two VR
pieces of which one was Virtuality and it costs $3.00 while at MGM Grand
it was $5.00. It has been our experience that even in Las Vegas players
are still sensitive to price and Sega strikes out here also.
Cash Box International reports that Manhattan Express, built by Togo, had
one million paying customers in just over 9 months.
Monte Carlo
There is also an arcade in Monte Carlo that we found near disserted. What
makes this facility unique is Mag Ball by Greystone. There was no one
near it let alone playing it. The price to play was only $2.00 and this
seemed to make no difference in the level of activity. It appears that
even after the peak of a game giving it away does not work.
Forum Shops
Next on the sampling was The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. It was 10pm
and the place was busy but not packed. However, there were two shows
going on that contributed to the movement of the crowds being packed into
two areas. New at the Forum was the Atlantis show at one end of the mall.
This was packed. It is a take off of the animated figures that Disney
pioneered. Various figures rose up from the floor and spoke. The center
of the area was well themed and orchestrated with lights, smoke and lots
of visual action. What was amazing was the reaction of the crowd. They
were fixed on this rather simple show taking pictures and videos. From a
retail standpoint it certainly had the impact the developer and operator
was looking for - to draw crowds to Caesars.
The shops at Caesars are up-scale and not inexpensive by any means. The
retail income is at $1,300 per square foot, one of the highest for retail
in the world. It is certainly an odd sight to see such a broad mix of
demographics in a mall that has jewelry stores with very expensive items.
The contrast is stark between Caesars and Gameworks. People come to
Caesars for free entertainment and end up spending significant amounts of
money. This is where retail and entertainment have been very well mixed.
Yet, Gameworks is focused solely on entertainment. Yes, it has a small
component of food and beverage but this is captive to Gameworks and not a
retail selection item as at Caesars. Thus, Gameworks is at one end of the
entertainment spectrum, a narrowly focused facility for the purpose of
playing existing games, which sets in an environmental flood of
entertainment options. By our measurements and the assessment of others
its financial performance has all indications of being marginal. In Las
Vegas survival of the fittest rule applies - if it does not do well in
the environment it is replaced. We wonder how long it will be before
Gameworks will be displaced by something else?
Sahara
Lastly we visited the hottest high tech attraction on the strip - Sahara
Speedworld. The Sahara Hotel and Casino has recently done a face lift and
tucked away in the back is a simulated race course using a series of
formula 1 race cars implemented by Illusion. On the way back to the site
are some antique cars and race cars sitting on the gaming floor. This all
seems out of place given that there is no theme to support racing at the
Sahara. While at New York New York Coney Island seems natural.
Sahara Speedworld emulates a race track. There are 16 cars on the left
and right sides of the walk way that looks like a track. One actually
walks down the track with color road striping, two actual cars and chain
link fences between the track and the driving simulators. As a result it
is possible to be in this track area and look directly on the screen
which the driver sees. The car, which is a replica of a formula 1 racer,
is positioned within a semicircular screen where the race is seen from
the perspective of the driver. We estimate the field-of-view as 150
degrees. The screen is about 5 foot high. There are 3 video projectors
above the driver which place the image on the screen. The image
generation is done with 3Dfx Voodoo chips. The driver climbs into the
cockpit when the top of the car shell automatically opens. The car is on
a 3 DOF platform.
The ride costs $8 for 8 minutes. There are two courses listed at the
purchase stand: Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Grand Prix. It
appeared that all the drivers did not have to be running in the same
race. When done the drivers can get a printed summary of the race. This
seemed to generate considerable interest. The facility is open M-Th 10 to
10 and F, S and Sun from 10 - Midnight.
At 10:30pm on a Saturday night the place was near empty. During one race
we only saw 7 drivers and very few observers standing around on the track
area. We asked at the desk how many cars can be supported and they said
that 24 were present but that only 16 were open because of the lack of
demand for the additional ones.
With a $200,000 per seat equipment cost and a cost of play that is only
$1/minute it is clear that this facility is not making money. We find in
all the more striking that it is located in a hotel casino that has
little association with racing other than a few cars on the gaming floor.
This is another example of where Las Vegas plays by different economic
rules which are distorted by the whole focus of the town - gaming.
However, as we discussed earlier it is also where the survival of the
fittest applies.
Wave Issue 9735 1/23/98 Article 1-01