THE VOID, the untethered mixed-reality park, is opening a new location in Dubai, UAE. The new Dubai-based park is the company’s second public location, and will be hosting their Ghostbusters: Dimension experience—the same currently running at their first location at Madame Tussaud’s New York.
The makers say the new park, located on the high-rent shopping area of The Beach on the Dubai Marina, is however a “limited engagement” with a presumably finite amount of slots available to the public before it closes. The park opens on March 24th, with tickets going on sale the 23rd. No definite closing date has been reported.
The Void combines a real world environment—i.e. a predetermined play space and objects within it—with corresponding virtual imagery shown via the platform’s powerful backpack-mounted PC and modified Oculus Rift headset, making it an entirely untethered, free-roaming VR experience. With additional smells wafting your way and other special effects like wind, heat, cold and vibration, The Void promises to offer a uniquely immersive ‘4D’ mixed-reality experience.
Cliff Plumer, CEO at The Void and former president of cinematic VR company Jaunt’s Santa Monica studio, said: “At THE VOID we are committed to allowing everyone, everywhere to step beyond reality, and into the most immersive entertainment experience imaginable. We are excited to partner with Meraas to bring THE VOID to Dubai, one of the most innovative leisure and entertainment destinations on the planet. The cutting-edge innovation we’ve seen in Dubai is a natural fit for the hyper-reality experience THE VOID will bring residents and visitors.”
The Dubai location was created in partnership with Meraas, a UAE-based holding company and owners of several locations including Dubai’s The Beach.
Road to VR contributor Paul McAdory stepped into The Void’s Ghostbusters: Dimension experience in New York last summer, saying that while it isn’t the most graphically intense VR experience he’s ever seen (and was remarkably short), the uncanny immersion of feeling virtual objects while he tracked and trapped supernatural enemies through a New York apartment complex brought the entire experience together. Check out his detailed hands-on here.
The Ghostbusters: Dimensions experience is said to last between 10-15 minutes including suit-up and suit-down. Dubai pricing and ticketing information hasn’t yet been released yet, but can be found on The Void’s website starting March 23rd.
The company maintains a test facility just outside of Salt Lake City, Utah—still closed to the public and by invite only.