Escaping Reality: VR arcades gaining popularity in China

World
Europe

02:23

It's a way to escape the world around you -- and enter a new one. For that reason, virtual reality has become quite popular in China. And as CGTN's Frances Kuo explains, plenty of places are popping up to provide that VR experience.

This is where Chen Jiuxiao escapes reality. On a spring day in Shanghai, she's doing slaloms down a ski slope.

CHEN JIUXIAO VR ARCADE FAN "Often when you watch the news or check your phone you will see lots of reports about it. Actually in Shanghai there are lots of shopping malls starting to do this kind of VR arcade."

Word-of-mouth piqued her curiosity about this virtual reality arcade. She's not the only one.

According to a joint report by iResearch consulting group and greenlight insights, there were about three-thousand VR arcades in 2016 in China. That number is expected to grow 13-fold by 2021.

And virtual reality isn't just showing up in arcades but in movie theaters. This is a VR cinema in Beijing. The chairs all have built-in VR headsets to help create that individualized, personal touch.

LIU BINGJIAN SUPERSONIC FILM TECHNOLOGY "The seats can spin. This function allows the audience to turn around to see places that they could not see before. For example, we turn around, but there is an angle. When I turn to the side, I cannot see what's behind me. The spinning seats allow us to see."

"Quite dreamlike. Many dinosaurs came alive. It seemed like I could touch them, and they stayed next to me."

According to advisory firm price-waterhouse-coopers, revenue from VR content could reach more than three-and-a-half billion dollars.

What could help push those numbers even more, the expected adoption of 5-g networks and the government's push to drive China to develop cutting-edge technologies like VR.

There's even talk of establishing a college focused on using virtual reality in the classroom.

The VR industry still suffers from snags. When it comes to gaming, customers cite the lack of quality options and the relatively high cost of arcade play.

QIN YUJIA VR ARCADE FAN "For two people, it's more than 40 U.S. dollars so I think the price is quite high."

That could change as the VR industry in China evolves as it aims to make its dominance in the world market a reality.

FRANCES KUO, CGTN.