Social Gaming isn’t going to be the next big thing
It IS the BIG THING!
Social Gaming Revenue Update
Below is a table showing the revenue growth of our social gaming over the last 5 years for our Rochester, New York venue. This is based on our fiscal year, which ended August 31st.
Total Social Gaming revenue over the first 5 years was $1,529,391 – this does not include food and beverage revenue. Additional food and beverage revenue averages about 50% of our social gaming revenue or just over $750,000! By the way, the better the food and beverage experience the higher the F&B numbers are going to be.
If you are good or even great at food and beverage, one of the very best ways to increase your F&B is to add the best Social Gaming experiences with built-in gathering spaces for your guests to eat and drink while their friends and family take their turns at playing one of the many available games.
Based on our traffic, we are operating with more social gaming units than we need. We could have generated $400,000 in annual revenue with only (4) Krazy Darts, (4) Axe Throwing, and (4) Krazy Arrowz. All 12 would fit in less than 3,000 square feet of space and our social gaming revenue average would jump to $33,333 per lane.
At the beginning of our fiscal year in 2024, we went all in and decided to make our Rochester, NY venue our social gaming test facility. We started by removing a large attraction that occupied 6,500 square feet of space. We basically had to fill it up with enough Axe Throwing, Krazy Darts, and a few other social gaming options to max out the space.
As we continue to develop additional social gaming concepts, we are going to replace the lowest earning ones with the newer ones.
Best Social Gaming = Scheduled Releases of the best NEW Games as well as updates to Existing Ones!
We recently made an important shift when it comes to the type of games we are designing. We refocused our efforts on creating the type of games that are most likely to become perennial favorites. We are also updating our most popular existing games to make sure they are the best they can be. It’s pretty amazing how much we learn every time we create a new game. There are just things we would never fully understand without going through the creation process.
An example of a great new game is our recently released Krazy Wheel of Money! It’s already receiving high praise from both regular players and first timers. By the way, it’s a game that Moms love to play!
How do you play Krazy Wheel of Money?
Players throw or shoot their preferred projectile at the spinning wheel of money to determine the dollar amount they might win. Then they throw or shoot another projectile at their preferred letter from the alphabet displayed on the target area. If the letter they hit is in the phrase, the game reveals the position(s) of the letter. Players can then choose to spin again or solve it. If a player doesn’t pick a letter that is in the phrase or they fail to correctly solve the phrase, it becomes the next player’s turn. The first player to solve the phrase wins!
Krazy Darts and Krazy Arrowz - ALL AGES can play!
It’s important to note that over the last several months we have added several new projectiles that can be used to play both Krazy Darts and Krazy Arrowz. For example, players as young as 3 years old can play using soft juggling balls. Their older siblings can play in the same game using a Nerf Blaster, foam Football, foam Dodgeball, Standard or Jumbo Steel-Tipped Darts or, for Krazy Arrowz, a real bow with real arrows (see below).
Krazy Darts XL and Krazy Arrowz - Great Social Gaming for Small and Large Groups
I don’t think there’s another social gaming experience that can beat Krazy Darts XL and Krazy Arrowz when it comes to providing small groups of 2 to 8 players with a truly fun out-of-home experience for families with kids, teenagers, as well as adult groups. This is also true for much larger groups when playing across multiple lanes of Krazy Darts XL and Krazy Arrowz all at the same time.
Important note: Our goal is to offer players a truly unique and instantly recognizable Social Gaming experience. The best way to do this is by creating a unique looking brand that provides our clients’ guests with the very best social gaming concepts while continuing to create the best new games and improving our existing games.
Best Social Gaming Experiences = Best Long-Term Returns
The profitability of a Social Gaming experience is directly correlated with the following:
Constant Flow of NEW Addictive Games
With the introduction of new games as well as updates to existing ones, the long-term profitability of Social Gaming will be much higher. Revenues will not only be maintained, but grow larger.
Having the very best social gaming experiences with the very best games is the only way we are going to get people to leave their homes and meet up for a night of fun where they can also eat, drink, and bond with friends and family.
Social Gathering Space for Socializing, Eating, and Drinking
In order to fully maximize revenue, it’s critical to have a social gathering space incorporated into our gaming experiences.
The social gathering space encourages players to socialize while eating and drinking. This space can also be used for guests who just want to watch and cheer on their friends or family members. The addition of the social gathering space is a huge opportunity to significantly increase food and beverage revenue.
Many social gaming experiences don’t even have the ability to provide a gathering space to eat and drink while playing.
Minimal Licensing Fees
Software Fees and/or Percentage of Revenue: other social gaming providers often charge significantly higher utilization fees, which continue to add up year after year.
Our annual software maintenance fee is only $2,950 per location (not per lane or per unit) and we are introducing approximately 10 new or upgraded games annually, which works out to less than $300 per game.
In addition, the more of our social gaming concepts you operate the lower the annual fee for each one. If you buy Krazy Darts XL and Krazy Arrowz, the annual fee drops from $2,950 to $2,500 annually for each concept. If you buy three of our social gaming concepts, it’s just $2,250 per year per concept.
Upgrades are Software Focused
Once you buy one or more of our social gaming concepts, the cost to continuously improve them is low and mostly software focused. Plus, software upgrades are fast, which means zero down time.
As mentioned earlier, we add approximately 10 new and updated games per year – with an annual software fee of $2,950 per social gaming concept, that works out to less than $300 per game.
Each new game release creates FRESH NEW CONTENT which provides operators with the opportunity to promote “what’s new” to both existing and prospective customers.
Important note: Other Social Gaming experiences can be very expensive to update.
Consider an experience such as a single high-tech mini-golf hole, activity room, carnival game, or escape room which can cost anywhere from $25,000 to over $100,000 to upgrade.
Many high CapEx concepts are also “one and done” due to low replayability–even after just a single visit.
Durable with Low Maintenance
Social Gaming experiences have to be designed to last for the long-term with their maintenance and repair costs being as low as possible. Both Krazy Arrowz and Krazy Darts XL are built to be durable and require minimal maintenance.
As always, durability is a key priority for LASERTRON. That’s because we are operating all of our Social Gaming and Attraction experiences at our own venues.
Krazy Darts, Krazy Arrowz, and Krazy Axes = Cross-Concept Skill Transfer
Shared game mechanics across all of our social gaming experiences reduces user anxiety, speeds up onboarding, and encourages multi-concept cross-play within the same facility.
For example, if a group just finished playing Krazy Darts XL and they move over to play Krazy Arrowz for their second session, the guests already understand the user interface because it’s exactly the same. All the games are the same, which means the only thing a player needs to learn is how to shoot an arrow, which is very easy to learn.
The goal is to always reduce as many stressors as possible when providing our guests with the best variety of social gaming experiences.
As was stated in the very beginning,
Social Gaming isn’t going to be the next big thing
It IS the BIG THING!
The sooner we get in the business of offering our guests the best Social Gaming experiences the better! That’s because there is a learning curve to operating social gaming at a high level.
There are also important synergies that only occur when we operate 3 or more of the best Social Gaming experiences along with enough units of each to fully maximize the highest revenue.
Nobody knows all the key variables or best operational practices to Social Gaming success and that’s why we need to move forward with a diversified portfolio of the best, most unique Social Gaming experiences.
Again, the learning curve is all about getting a deeper understanding of what it takes to operate the best social gaming experiences.
So, let the learning begin…
Let me know what you think – jkessler@lasertron.us
Thanks for reading,
Jim Kessler