Show Notes:
In this closing keynote from the 2025 VR Arcade and Attractions Summit, Brent Bushnell shares 20 years of building public entertainment with candor and optimism. This talk guides us through a tour through prototypes, venues, shutdowns, pivots, and the birth of DreamPark.
What’s inside:
From early interactive art and story rooms to Two Bit Circus, and why permanent venues beat temporary installs.
How a split between nonprofit and for-profit unlocked school programs, STEAM curricula, and upcycled makerspaces.
Lessons from failed experiments, including 360 video, phones as controllers, and complex robot bartenders.
Covid realities, landlord dynamics, a SPAC that collapsed, and why great investors matter.
DreamPark mixed reality in city parks, guests navigating real spaces safely, and a practical kit for operators.
Pricing tests, revenue models, and the case for hour-long experiences that justify a trip across town.
Brent closes with a simple theme: keep building, learn fast, and get up one more time than you fall.