Supported by Cineplex, VR Studios will Expand offline VR Business in Canada

VR studios CEO Kevin Vitale said in a statement: “Cineplex is one of the world’s leading entertainment companies, and we are proud to work with them to drive innovations in the offline VR market. Our respective visions are great and we are able to extend VR and implement enterprise strategies in business entertainment.”

Cineplex operates 165 theaters across Canada, and their investment in VRstudios will help the latter expand the “offline entertainment” market, providing a room-scale VR experience for markets outside of home VR. Prior to the announcement of this investment agreement, Cineplex and VRstudios deployed a VR system in Alberta, Canada.

VRstudios was founded in 2014 and has deployed 65 VR systems in 15 countries, including casinos, theme parks, malls and home entertainment centers such as Dave and Buster’s. In addition, the company completed $2.2 million in financing in June this year.

VR and AR have not yet achieved the popularity of the mainstream consumer market, in part because of the low sales volume. But VRstudios has clearly found a niche market that provides customers with online and offline channels for consumers to experience VR content. For this, VRstudios offers everything from hardware integration, day-to-day operations to management reporting.

VRstudios was formerly the VR game company VRcade founded seven years ago, but was reorganized into VRstudios Inc. in July 2014. Their business model has been adjusted and they have turned their attention to the enterprise simulation market. But last year, the company doubled its offline entertainment business.

Cineplex’s revenue in the second quarter of 18 years was $409 million, increasing by 12%. The company’s share price has fallen slightly over the past year, and the current price per share is $32.