Ymagis Presents Its New Virtual Reality Activities with the Opening of Its First Illucity Adventure Park
14 Novembre 2018 - 10:44AM
Press release
Paris (France) - 13 November 2018 at 08:00
Ymagis Presents
Its New Virtual Reality Activities
with the Opening of Its First Illucity Adventure Park
Illucity, the
virtual reality adventure park, and
CinemaNext VR, the virtual reality arcade
offer
The Group aims to
open several dozen Illucity centres and at least 200 arcade sites
in partnership with cinema exhibitors worldwide by the end of
2020
Ymagis Group (FR0011471291,
MAGIS, PEA-PME, TECH 40), the European specialist in digital
technologies for the film industry, today presents its new virtual
reality activities.
Creation of a structured offer in
line with market expectations
Since Ymagis Group was founded, it has pursued an
innovation policy placing it at the heart of the digital
transformation of the entertainment industry. Today, this industry
is experiencing a new revolution with the irruption of virtual
reality technologies (VR). Halfway between cinema and video games,
virtual reality is already a global phenomenon benefiting from an
advanced technological environment.
In view of this, Ymagis has developed VR leisure
centre concepts in which the general public will have the
opportunity to discover premium VR content. To deploy these
centres, the Group has opted to standardise game spaces and apply a
network approach. This strategy will offer greater exposure to the
content producers with whom Ymagis wishes to establish long-term
partnerships. Ymagis aims to progressively build a catalogue with a
wide range of VR content available in each of its centres, making
them increasingly attractive to the public.
Two target market segments:
arcades and adventure parks
After an in-depth study of the existing virtual
reality offers, the Group is targeting two market segments: i/ VR
arcades designed for cinema exhibitors and ii/ Illucity adventure
parks, proper stand-alone VR centres which can be coupled with
cinemas or other locations with sufficient floorspace.
It will be possible to install VR arcades covering
30 to 100 m2 in lobbies or
other spaces available in cinemas to be directly managed by the
exhibitors themselves who will thus be able to optimise their human
resources. The arcades will enable exhibitors to diversify their
revenue sources, increase traffic and contribute to winning back
the "millennials" target group. The business model for this
activity is based on the sale or hire of equipment by CinemaNext to
exhibitors and the supply by Ymagis of top quality VR content from
its producer partners using a revenue-sharing model. This model is
financially reassuring and cost-effective for exhibitors while
guaranteeing Ymagis and content producers an attractive level of
profitability.
In parallel to this offer, the Group is launching
Illucity, the first adventure park network offering a highly
diverse range of top-quality VR experiences brought together under
one roof in venues covering 300 to 2,000 m2 with
four different types of content: free-roaming, escape games,
simulators and arcade games, and lastly cinema content.
In this way, Illucity deploys a varied array of
immersive experiences with something for everyone from individual
players to families, groups of friends and companies.
The Illucity centres will be developed in
partnership or under franchise with cinema exhibitors who are
partners of the Group in priority, or in some specific cases, they
will be run directly by the Group. Most of the income from the
centres will be generated by ticket sales, the prices of which will
range from €5 to €35 depending on the VR experience, as well as by
related sales. For a surface area covering an average of 1,000 m²,
the projected annual revenue is €2M.
With a return on investment expected in less than
two years for an investment of €1.5M per 1,000 m² venue, the first
Illucity sites will be initially financed on a site-by-site basis
by bank loan and leasing. The operating profitability, with an
estimated EBIT margin of 20 -30%, means this funding approach can
be continued in the long-term. However, to accelerate development,
other funding opportunities are currently being studied.
Aim: become an international
player in the virtual reality leisure centre sector
Ymagis Group is the first market operator to offer
an industrial approach to the creation of standardised VR venues
with a turnkey offer for cinema exhibitors. The Group aims to
become an international player in the virtual reality entertainment
centre sector.
The first Illucity centre is due to open at the
end of November 2018 in Paris, and upcoming launches are scheduled
in Marseille, Nantes, Brest, Nice, Toulon and Liège (Belgium).
Discussions are also underway with several international cinema
exhibitors in the Middle East and Europe.
The first VR arcade installations should take place from December
2018 onwards.
The Group aims to have equipped several dozen
Illucity centres and at least 200 arcade sites in partnership with
cinema exhibitors worldwide by the end of 2020. This new activity
with strong potential for profitability should therefore constitute
an important driver for sustainable growth for the Group and
strengthen the earnings targets scheduled in the Perform Plan for
2020.
ABOUT Ymagis GROUP
Ymagis is a European leader in advanced digital technology services
for the cinema industry. Founded in 2007, the Group is
headquartered in Paris and has offices in 26 countries with 770
employees. Our core business is structured around four main units:
CinemaNext (exhibitor services: sales and field services, software
solutions, customer service/NOC), Eclair (content services:
postproduction, theatrical delivery, digital distribution,
versioning and accessibility, restoration and preservation),
Virtual Print Fee (VPF) for finance solutions and other activities,
including EclairColor, EclairGame and Virtual Reality. For more
information, please visit www.ymagis.com, www.cinemanext.com or
www.eclair.digital
YMAGIS is listed on Euronext Paris and is part of the CAC Small,
CAC Mid and Small and CAC All-Tradable indices. |
YMAGIS GROUP
Jean Firôme, CFO
Tel.: +33 (0)1 75 44 88 88
investisseurs@ymagis.com
CALYPTUS
Sophie Levesque / Mathieu Calleux
ymagis@calyptus.net
Tel.: + 33 (0)1 53 65 68 62 |
YMAGIS - New Virtual Reality
Activities
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Source: YMAGIS via Globenewswire