Throughout the last couple of years, we have seen an array of news articles about the way virtual reality was about to save the classic arcade. The idea goes that the VR equipment is too expensive for home users, therefore it creates an opportunity for operators to pony up the big dollars to purchase it and make their money back by charging per game to play it. Much Nolan Bushnell, the inventor of Pong, is trying to hype the tech as the industry's savior.
"While several high-end headsets were released last year that may bring virtual-reality experiences to your living space, adoption of the technology remains in its first days for a lot of reasons--it's still bulky, pricey, and there is not all that far to do as soon as you've got it on your face. Over two million cans were sent globally in 2016, according to a quote from market researcher Canalys, yet this figure pales in comparison to the prevalence of, say, video game consoles (earnings of their top one, Sony's PS4, topped six million during the 2016 holiday season alone). Consumer virtual reality will probably catch on as costs come down and headsets improve. In the meantime, however, a variety of businesses are betting that consumers may be pleased to cover a much smaller amount to try out the tech with their friends at, say, an arcade, theme park, or bowling alley"
It is tempting to dive into this snare, but from an operator's standpoint VR is a terrible deal. Operators are being requested to pay top dollar for tech that's all but guaranteed to plummet in value over the very short term. Aside from buying a brand-new vehicle and driving it a mile, I can not think of a way that you could lose money faster between what you pay and what you'll be able to get for it down the road.
Another limitation for operators is that while you might be able to provide a space for VR individuals to roam around in now, as fresh VR tech is unveiled, we are likely to see the stage expanded from 100 square feet to the whole world. Instead of viewing just the matches in your headset, you'll realize the real world with game play overlayed. kids arcade games can go to the park and relive the knights of the round table or parking garages to shoot aliens. As the tech allows more real world areas to be explored, it is going to earn a cramped arcade look fairly feeble in comparison.
VR is already heading for mass market acceptance, however it is demand isn't being driven by players who want to pay big buck to play with video games, but such as the BETAMAX that came before it, by people who want to watch pornography in their houses.
Even when an operator can create just a bit of money for the upcoming few decades, once VR achieves critical mass, then it will crush whatever earnings stream that operators're dreaming of. Don't believe me? Just check out what's going on in China.
A year after 22,000 of these have closed.
This is an incredible failure rate over this brief period of time and one that should serve as a sharp warning to anyone contemplating investing in the VR games. Maybe Dave and Busters is able to take losses over the games longer than Chinese startup arcades, but I doubt most North American operators are going to fare much better with the tech in their match rooms and will just wind up in debt in the close of the day.
The issue essentially boils down to consumers not being willing to pay a premium to the encounter. Tech In Asia, clarifies the issue perfectly in their own article, on that the Chinese VR boom and bust.

"Enterprising store owners leaping into VR are finding it impossible to bill fees comparable to cinemas or bowling alleys to get a VR experience. 1 VR arcade proprietor told iHeima that he saw eager queues when charging US$1.50 for a 30-minute session, but everybody disappeared when it climbed to US$5. By that kind of revenue it is impossible to pay the lease."
Even if the match was sold out all day, at $1.50 a half hour they're just earning $30 per day. Together with retail rents in North America running $1 -- $2 a square foot, there is no way to make the math work, even in the event that you assume that Americans will pay more to play with the matches.
The real world data streaming in from China must function as a canary in the quarter plantations of North America. Operators who spend considerable amounts of money on fancy VR setups will soon find their small VR rooms being replaced by the entire world for a stage. Since the setups get more expensive, smaller and more mobile, the virtual arcades will look more costly, bulky and limited. I would love to be proven wrong on this one, but I feel the arcade VR trend is more hype than hope.