Build VR Like a Theme Park. Market It Like a Movie.

Theme parks spend billions designing experiences that people travel across the world to repeat. That level of craft has always been out of reach for independent VR operators — until now.

Hololabs worked with Universal Studios on the Augmented Reality gameplay for Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge now running in Osaka, Hollywood and Epic Universe. Then they asked a harder question: what would it look like to bring that same design philosophy to the arcade market?

The answer was Abyss Vault — a 30-minute free-roam VR experience for 2–6 players built on the principles that make theme park attractions unforgettable: rich storytelling, stunning environments, and gameplay that demands real teamwork. Unusually for a single title, it was designed to hit three of the four audience segments that drive LBE revenue — birthday parties, active gamers, and corporate groups — bringing new audiences into venues that are hungry for a compelling, social experience.

But building it was only half the challenge. Hololabs also bet on a different kind of launch: a coordinated worldwide premiere event, venue partners activated simultaneously, with the energy of a film release rather than a typical software rollout.

In this session, the Hololabs team goes behind the scenes on both bets — the design process and the go-to-market — and shares what they learned from bringing the full playbook to market. Whether you're an operator evaluating our next title or a studio thinking about how to build and launch at this level, this is the blueprint.