VR has always wrestled with finding that sweet spot between immersion and comfort. Meta just coined it the "Goldilocks Zone," officially acknowledging the struggle. From session lengths to onboarding friction and headset comfort, operators need to hit that "just right" experience. Is Meta's advice on the money, or can LBE operators push the boundaries further? Let's unpack this below in One Big Thing after the news…

"What's your take? Are long VR sessions un-bare-able?

New Developments

FECs and Arcades

Ctrl V goes two‑up on North America
Founded in 2016, the world’s first VR‑arcade franchise has added sites in Ancaster, Canada and Winston‑Salem, North Carolina. Each venue houses 17 stations, private party rooms, and a game library spanning zombie shoot‑outs to underwater sims. It’s a scrappy, capital‑efficient expansion aimed at casual gamers and corporate team‑builders. Will these markets deliver the throughput needed to prove VR arcades aren’t a fad? read more…

Romania levels up with free‑roam esports
French operator EVA has planted its flag in Bucharest, adding a 500 m² arena to a global network that includes Paris and Kuala Lumpur. The venue features fully free‑roam play, Wi‑Fi 6 networking, and exclusive titles like After‑H: Battle Arena. EVA hopes to turn Romania into a regional hub for competitive VR—yet the real test will be whether local teams deliver the flow‑through to justify the tech. read more…

Sandbox goes east: Atlantic Park gets free‑roam fever
The free‑roam pioneer opened a four‑room venue in Virginia Beach’s Atlantic Park, outfitted with VIVE Focus 3 headsets, haptic vests, and group play for six. Nestled between surf parks and restaurants, this beachside location is part of a broader push to make full‑body VR mainstream outside tech hubs. The bet: a lively entertainment district will fuel both social buzz and solid unit economics. read more…

Andretti Indoor Karting races into OKC
Andretti Indoor Karting & Games speeds into Oklahoma City, bringing adrenaline-packed karting, arcade games, and immersive VR attractions. Mario Andretti himself marked the grand opening, promising thrilling experiences for locals and tourists alike. Read more at The Oklahoman.

Art, Music, and Culture

Wonka goes dome‑size: Cosm’s candy‑coated shared reality
Entertainment firm Cosm is swapping headsets for an 87‑foot LED dome that projects Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory around the entire audience. Unlike VR or AR, shared reality uses high‑resolution screens, spatial audio, and haptic effects to create a social, multisensory event. It’s an ambitious step that could redefine family cinema—if ticket prices don’t leave parents feeling sour. read more…

Can AI reboot Dorothy?
Las Vegas’ Sphere is about to screen the 1939 classic using generative‑AI restoration. I unpack whether cranking resolution and tweaking gestures adds value or just polishes nostalgia for a 16K dome. With cinema shifting toward immersive venues, this experiment could become a new revenue model—or remain a curiosity. read more…

Wevr and VIVE Arts dig into the Terracotta Warriors. 
On July 29, 2025, Wevr partnered with VIVE Arts to unveil Terracotta Warriors: Secrets of the First Emperor’s Mausoleum—a 40‑minute shared VR experience that transports visitors inside Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s sealed burial chambers in Xi’an. read more...

Etihad goes digital: Man City turns tours into VR adventures
The Premier League champions launched Beyond the Blue Moon, letting fans explore club history, fly over the stadium, and lift trophies via VR headsets. It’s the league’s first VR stadium tour—aimed at deepening fan loyalty and pulling in new visitors. For operators, it’s a reminder that legacy venues can future‑proof experiences with thoughtful tech integrations. read more…

Van Gogh’s masterpieces get virtual in Wales
Explore Van Gogh like never before with an innovative VR experience at the Wales Millennium Centre. Dive into the artist’s iconic paintings and creative universe in stunning virtual reality. Read more at It's On Cardiff.

Travel and Tourism

Hawaii’s VR bus: paradise without the jet lag
XploreRide Hawaiʻi has rolled out a zero‑emission bus where riders strap on headsets to see 360‑degree Hawaiian landscapes and hear local stories while cruising Waikīkī. It’s a clever mash‑up of transportation and VR that could inspire operators with limited space to think beyond fixed installations. Bonus: the eco‑angle might draw sustainability‑minded tourists. read more…

Titanic resurfaces in Leeds via immersive VR
Leeds is hosting a new virtual reality experience, bringing the legendary Titanic back to life with stunning detail. Visitors can explore the historic ship, interact with immersive environments, and relive the drama in full virtual reality. Read more at Yorkshire Evening Post.

Oxford Castle goes virtual
Oxford Castle is enhancing its visitor appeal with a cutting-edge VR attraction. Visitors can experience medieval life, historical battles, and panoramic views through immersive virtual reality. Read more at This is Oxfordshire.

Museums and Science Centers

Czech museum faces backlash for VR smoking exhibit
A Czech museum’s virtual reality exhibit has sparked controversy by allegedly glamorizing smoking through immersive historic recreations. Critics argue the display undermines public health messages. Read more at Tobacco Reporter.

Chongqing Sports Museum blends history and innovation
The newly opened Chongqing Sports Museum combines physical sports memorabilia with immersive VR experiences, showcasing China’s athletic history while embracing cutting-edge technology. Read more at iChongqing.

RAF Coningsby aviation museum gets VR lift-off
A significant grant propels the Aviation Heritage Centre near RAF Coningsby into immersive territory, funding a state-of-the-art virtual reality flight simulation to boost visitor engagement. Read more at Lincolnshire World.

Rutland embraces virtual time travel
Step back in time this summer with Jurassic and Roman-themed virtual journeys in Rutland. These immersive historical VR experiences offer interactive, educational adventures, highlighting Rutland's rich past. Read more at Oakham Nub News.

Dive into coral reefs at the Grant Museum
Virtual Worlds: Corals at the Grant Museum project invites visitors to explore underwater ecosystems through immersive VR. The experience offers an engaging look at coral biodiversity and marine conservation. Read more at UCL Museums.

Zoos and Aquariums

Marwell Zoo launches wild VR experience
Marwell Zoo offers guests a new virtual reality experience, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with endangered animals. This immersive encounter combines education with thrilling VR interactions. Read more at Basingstoke Gazette.

Technology

Sharp aims to get a grip on VR haptics
Sharp unveils a prototype haptic glove-controller designed to deliver realistic touch feedback in virtual reality. Could this tech finally crack the challenge of convincing tactile interactions in VR? Read more at Road to VR.

VR breakthrough: Taste virtual foods with high-tech lollipop
Researchers in China have developed a lollipop-shaped device enabling users to taste virtual foods. This novel VR sensory technology could redefine digital dining experiences. Read more at Foodbeast.

One Big Thing

Why Location-based VR is in the “Goldilocks Zone”

Last week Meta came out with guidance for experience developers on the Quest, advising them to design for sessions that fit in the 20-40 minute range, which they called the Goldilocks Zone. This is the first time I’ve seen them acknowledge the elephant in the room. They’re finally admitting that comfort and friction are issues. And until they have time to address them with lighter-weight, more comfortable headsets that work more seamlessly, they are asking developers to design within those constraints.

Papa Bear: Down to Get the Friction On

Anyone who has used VR knows that it takes way too long to start a session. Between dead batteries, firmware, software, game, and controller updates, and the long list of menus to navigate, it’s all tiresome. And then you have to set up the boundaries, every…single…time. I once wanted to give a demo of Richie’s Plank to a friend who had never tried VR. By the time I got everything running, she had time to take a shower, dry her hair, get dressed, and eat a sandwich.

So, for a brief experience, perhaps 5 or 10 minutes, that onboarding friction isn’t worth it. Papa bear says make it last longer.

Mama Bear: Hurts So Good

I am shocked at how hard it seems to make a headset that doesn’t hurt your face after half an hour. I thought for sure that Apple would figure it out. Nope. I find the cushion on the Vive Focus 3 to be pretty comfy, but at about 40 minutes, even that hurts.

The BoboVR strap for Quest and Pico certainly help. Balancing the weight between the front and back, and adding more overhead strap support contribute to longer wearability. But unless you’re The Weekend, your face is still gonna hurt after 40 minutes. Mama Bear says “Take that thing off!”

Baby Bear: I Like it Like That

According to Meta, the ideal length of experience for VR is between 20 and 40 minutes. Not too short, not too long…just right.

Meta writes in their blog to developers, "In general, we recommend building VR games that are optimized for the 20-40 minute “Goldilocks” zone so users don’t need to choose between quitting in the middle of something or pushing themselves past their comfort levels.” Some interesting insights from their research can inform the location-based VR market.

Perception of Value Drives Satisfaction

Meta’s research found that sessions lasting less than 15-20 minutes are less enjoyable than longer sessions. Games with significant onboarding reduce perceived value. Getting players into and out of the experience quickly and efficiently will increase their enjoyment. I know when I got to Sandbox VR and have to strap shit to my feet and hands, it isn’t adding to my experience. Conversely, Hero Zone’s Hangout makes onboarding fun! As soon as I am in the headset, I am playing with stuff waiting for the others to join the session.

On the other end of the spectrum, Meta said that sessions longer than 40 minutes “don’t add enjoyment.” They cite physical comfort, motion sickness, social isolation, and battery life limitations. But is that true?

Embodiment + Social = Satisfaction

When this story hit LinkedIn this week, I saw that Mighty Coconut, the developers of Walkabout Mini Golf, one of the most popular titles on Quest, posted that their average session is 2+ hours! I was curious about the other hit social game for kids, Gorilla Tag. Sources suggest that the average Goriila Tag session is over an hour. So if two of the most popular VR games average sessions over an hour, how can 30 minutes be the “Goldilocks Zone?”

Walkabout Mini Golf and Gorilla Tag have one crucial thing in common. They’re both social multiplayer games. Most people play Walkabout with friends online. And Gorilla Tag is all about social interaction. When people play together, they play longer. And we all need to play together more often.

Gorilla Tag introduces another key element that can significantly enhance the VR experience - embodiment. Players swing their arms to move around, kind of like a gorilla. It makes movement feel natural, which makes players more comfortable.

Goldilocks Would Love Free Roam VR

Free roam VR is the ultimate embodied, social VR experience. You’re in a room with other people, moving your body in the space. It creates a deep level of immersion, increasing the perceived value of the experience.

My first free-roam VR experience was at Zero Latency in Melbourne in 2016. It was a 45-minute epic experience. At the end, I was exhausted but enthralled. It costs $88 and was worth every penny. Zero Latency was selling out sessions six weeks in advance back then. Now, throughput was limited, and times were different. But I’ve always maintained that for free-roam VR, we can push the envelope towards longer experiences.

Most free-roam game experiences are still in that 15-30 minute range. But more and more VR arcade operators running Hero Zone are turning on Party Mode and selling hour-long sessions. Each game runs about 10 minutes, and players come back to the Hangout to vote on their next game. It’s a ten-minute loop that can be repeated 4 or 5 times in an hour.

Large-scale free-roam storytelling experiences, such as Horizons of Khufu from Excurio, are approximately 45 minutes long. And new experiences from Wevr, Univrse, and Fever are all pushing up to that 45-minute mark. Because of their massive throughput and space efficiency, they can keep a lid on prices to remain accessible to wide audiences.

Join LEXRA - The Community that Has the Answers

So while Meta wrestles with how to make consumer VR good enough to grow the market, many have already cracked that code in LBE. After a decade, we’ve solved most of the problems; we just haven’t widely distributed the answers. That’s why I started LEXRA - the location-based entertainment XR association. Founding memberships are now open - you can join at www.lexra.org.

One of the biggest challenges LBEXR operators face today is marketing. Customer acquisition costs are the biggest challenge to VR attraction profitability. Some locations are spending as much as 30% of revenue, which is unsustainable. I am bringing together the most experienced marketers in the industry to share their knowledge with us. Sessions start September 2 and are free for LEXRA members. So join LEXRA today!

Stay immersed,

Bob