A new Virtual Reality entertainment facility with a Squid Game VR experience and a robotic bartender may be opening in the city centre soon, according to plans lodged with Dublin City Council.
Virtual reality experience company Sandbox VR is planning to open a commercial Virtual Reality (VR) facility on the ground floor and lower ground floor of the newly completed seven-storey mixed-use scheme at the corner of Nassau Street and Dawson Street.
The Hong Kong company is a global leader in location-based virtual reality already operates in 40 cities worldwide, including in the United States, the UK, Canada, China and Singapore. The Dublin centre will be only its fourth European opening.
They have incorporated Hollywood motion capture cameras, 3D precision body trackers, custom hardware and haptic suits to provide a futuristic VR experience for groups of up to six. People can see and physically interact with everyone inside, just like the real world.
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Gaming fans will be excited to know Sandbox VR's "exclusive worlds" are built by EA, Sony, and Ubisoft veterans. According to a planning report lodged by planning consultants Declan Brassil & Co, Sandbox VR currently has seven high quality VR experiences for guests to choose from.
These include two zombie slayer experiences (Deadwood Mansion and its sequel Deadwood Valley), two sci-fi experiences (Uber Sky 2088 and Star Trek: Discovery); a fantasy experience (Seekers of the Shard: Dragonfire); a player vs player/team vs team fighting experience (Unbound Fighting League) and a pirate-themed adventure experience (Curse of Davy Jones) that is particularly suitable for families with younger children.
They are also planning to release a VR experience inspired by the massively popular Netflix k-drama series Squid Game at the end of 2023. The game will provide players with the opportunity to relive the experience of the series with branching and varied storylines and multiple endings.
According to the planning report, the proposed VR facility will also have a guest lounge and ancillary licensed bar areas at lower ground floor level. One of the bartenders will be the robot Toni. Unfortunately, there won’t be any food offered at the leisure centre. Barring the robot, the facility will employ 20 people. The facility can have up to 120 customers at a time.
According to planning consultant Declan Brassil, Sandbox VR is particularly popular with groups of friends within the 25 to 35 age group, tourist groups, families with children aged 11+ and a form of corporate event. Customers under 18 will have to have a parent or a guardian physically present there.
Each VR session will be approximately 45 minutes to an hour but the actual VR experience in the assigned ‘holodeck’ (reportedly inspired by Star Trek's Holodeck) will be 30 minutes. It is anticipated that the proposed facility will operate between 10:30am - 12am Monday to Friday, 10am - 12am on Saturday and 10am-11pm on Sunday.
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