Superheroes, villains and other film-based characters have long had a home in theme parks, and now videogame properties also are taking up residence, Id Software’s Jeffrey Senita said during a presentation at the IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando.

For example, Electronic Arts subsidiary Bioware’s “Mass Effect” was licensed for a ride that opened in 2016 at Cedar Fair Entertainment’s California’s Great America in Santa Clara, CA. On a grander scale, game developer Ubisoft (“Assassins Creed”, “Far Cry”, “Raving Rabbids”) is readying its own park 2020 with licensee RSG in Kuala Lumper, Malaysia.

On a more juvenile level, Angry Birds licensee Trimoo recently opened an Angry Birds World inside Doha Festival City in Qatar. And Universal Parks and Resorts plans to open a Super Nintendo World at its facility in Osaka, Japan in 2020

“I think when you have these franchises that are getting bigger and bigger that have legs attached to them, it makes sense to bring the games into the parks, especially when you have more generations that play the titles and have a history with them,” Senita told us following the presentation.

In using virtual reality or augmented reality, theme parks will need to create an extension of a game not available at home rather than simply re-telling the central story, Senita said. “You need to be playing with a new aspect to that world that fits into the story and ties into game-playing that is familiar,” Senita said. In creating those extensions, however, theme park owners will likely adhere to the family-friendly nature of their facilities and may, in some cases, need to work with the game developers to create experiences shorn of the violence that are central to some of them, Senita said. And that is while still creating an attraction that appeals to fans of the mature-rated videogame, he said.

“If you are trying to build an attraction based on Grand Theft Auto, that might not be the right IP, but what you could do is take elements of it such as driving cars and taking them off jumps and focus on that aspect,” Senita said. “But your audience knows the game and they know what to expect. If you were to take a game with mature content and simplify it, you might be betraying them. So you have to selectively decide which parts of the game make for a good attraction” and work with IP owners in deciding which segments of a title might be appropriate.

Park owners also will have to work with game developers in distilling a multi-level game into what could be just a several-minute ride. , Virtual and augmented reality can further extend the experience.

“If you have a game that is already built and people enjoy it, it will be easier to adapt and bring the assets over to the park and make an extension of the experience that already exists,” Senita said. “That way people who are already fans of a game will already have a certain knowledge of the game and if you think of the whole park as a game board, you could have a longer experience.”

Contact:

Id Software, Jeffrey Senita, 972-613-3589