Zero Latency VR offers virtual reality games that include titles from the Warhammer 40,000 and Far Cry franchises. (Courtesy Zero Latency VR)
A Short Pump storefront that once equipped people for the great outdoors is being transformed into a venue for adventures in the virtual world.
Entertainment venue Zero Latency VR is planning to open in the coming weeks in the former Orvis space at Short Pump Town Center.
Zero Latency is banking on a 50-foot-by-75-foot virtual reality arena to be its main draw, general manager Avery Torres said. Up to eight players will be able to don VR headsets and move freely around the dedicated zone, which is about the size of a tennis court, as they play games that include titles from the Far Cry and Warhammer 40,000 franchises.
The Short Pump venue will also feature ValoArena, a roughly 30-foot-by-30-foot enclosed mixed-reality area, where up to six players move around to take actions in games that are displayed on screens.
The venue will have experiences aimed at adults and children, and is being designed to appeal to families, Torres said. It will also have arcade games.
Up to eight players will be able to don VR headsets and move freely around the venue’s 50-foot-by-75-foot virtual reality arena. (Jack Jacobs photo)
Customers would pay for certain amounts of credits that are expended to play the games. The venue’s pricing was still being finalized.
Zero Latency is leasing the 12,000-square-foot, two-story space that had been occupied by sporting goods store Orvis near the Cheesecake Factory restaurant.
Initially, Zero Latency plans to operate only in the ground level of the space. Torres said that after getting customer feedback and gauging the popularity of its various games, the company would equip and open the second floor at a later date.
“We want to give a complete experience and let people see what we have to offer,” Torres said.
Torres said the business was drawn to Short Pump mall because of its foot traffic. In addition to the visibility of the space, he said that the size of the space was a consideration, because a lot of room was needed for the larger game experiences. He declined to share the startup costs associated with the launch of the business.
The venue’s ValoArena can accommodate up to six people, and players move around the space to take actions in games that are displayed on screens. (Jack Jacobs photo)
The new Short Pump Zero Latency venue is owned by a local family, though Torres declined to share its identity. The business is licensing the free-roam arena technology and the name from Australian firm Zero Latency. An arena system starts at $165,000. Royalties paid to the corporate office can take the form of a 16% revenue-share of ticket sales or other arrangements, per the company’s website.
Zero Latency says it licenses more than 100 arenas located in more than 25 countries. The Short Pump location would appear to be the first in the Richmond region, per the company website.
The Short Pump venue’s ValoArena is made by Finnish company Valo Motion.
Zero Latency, which plans to open in September or October, prepares to open amid other activity at Short Pump Town Center. Lego is planning to open a retail store at the mall, and Dick’s Sporting Goods is also planning one of its House of Sport locations in the mall’s former Nordstrom building.
Zero Latency would be the second virtual reality venue to open in a Henrico County mall. Pelagos VR, which is also run by a local family, opened at Regency mall last year.
Print Article